Mega Man X: Island Of Awakening
by Erico
Summary: Six Months After The First Uprising, new events transpire in a place called Paradise...a place that will serve as The Island Of Awakening...
1. Foreword

MEGA MAN X: ISLAND OF AWAKENING **__**

MEGA MAN X: ISLAND OF AWAKENING

By Erico

FOREWORD

One year ago(Summer of 2000), I began work on a story whose short name was AUF. Long name, An Uncertain Future. I did this because I realized NO ONE had ever done a sound, solid Fanfiction Piece novelizing the Mega Man X series. Not even one game. AUF did that in spades from all the positive feedback I've seen it get.

But there was also a request by many of these voices, one I was wary to try and fill. That request was for a Sequel. A continuance of X's saga for the other X games. 

It came to me in a dream, inside of a dozy REM fog that usually holds only gibberish. But this was different. Like a bolt from the blue, a clear vision stood before my dreaming mind of what could be done.

This dream was how I would go about retelling the game of X2 in a solid storyline. Certain aspects fell into the place the following morning when I began to tally the numbers.

The place.

The time.

The emotions.

And so within the timespan of a day, three grape sodas, and a long session of listening to MP3s and running over the memorized stage maps of X2 in my head, I had completed the rough outline for this next tale.

Island of Awakening.

Six months after X defeated Sigma in the horrific First Maverick Uprising, his scattered followers still cause trouble for the Hunters. Knowing that they lack a true leader to give unity to them makes it easier for the Hunters…

But harder to track the Mavericks down at the same time.

The X that lived before the First Uprising is gone, the exterior temperament melted away in the fire of battle and the loss of his friends.

The loss of Zero especially still weighs heavy on X's mind. Heavy because Zero killed himself to save X. A life debt that X can never repay to his Crimson Friend.

But he goes on. Angry at himself, angrier at the Mavericks, but with an edge of sorrow buried deeply within, X leads the Hunters as their head Commander. Second only to Cain in superiority.

But what X does not realize…

Is that soon, something within him…and something in the world as well…will stir from their comas.

Something that will be resuscitated only by the power…

Hidden within the Island of Awakening.


	2. Prologue

MEGA MAN X: ISLAND OF AWAKENING **__**

MEGA MAN X: ISLAND OF AWAKENING

By Erico

PROLOGUE

Wires, servos, shape metal alloys, blood vessels, synaptic relays, warp generator, microfusion tank…

The reploid standing above the table paused his work for a moment to raise his hands up and rub his eyes, his tired body screaming at him for rest. But the reploid ignored his body's pleas for sleep. His task at hand held priority above everything else.

Even his own well being.

Still, he did back away from the operating table and the bright lights for a moment to stretch his arms out and reach for his drink. Perhaps the carbonated soda…cherry flavored?…might ward off his body's aggravating stasis messages.

The reploid looked up at the ceiling for a moment, breathing in the air as he held the container of sugary liquid in his hand. His mustached mouth gained a smile as he took a small sip of his drink.

"The air's so clean…no human stink." His contempt for the species that had borne him was apparent as his blue and red armor and the bulky black Russian smokestack hat above his head. "I would ask for no less than these pristine conditions to resurrect another…" 

His voice seemed metallic, hollow…empty compared to other reploids of his humanoid breed. The reploid smirked for a moment and hopped up onto a chair, watching with bemused interest as his little legs and their partially oversized metallic boots dangled freely in the air.

Of course, it didn't surprise him. After all, he was barely four feet tall.

But that didn't matter to him. After all, he was a Maverick.

And that made him stronger than a reploid who was seven feet.

His comm chittered to life, and the Maverick rolled his eyes for a moment. One was a warped red…and the other was frighteningly robotic. His hand reached down to his left arm's wrist and he keyed in a switch. It had to be one of his two fellow Mavericks reporting in.

After all, no one else knew he was here.

"Yes?" He said in mock surprise. There was a grunt on the other end, and then on the wall of the room opposite from the short statured Maverick, an image flickered to life.

Unlike the short and stubby Maverick, this one truly DID look imposing, even if it was only his face being seen.

"It's me Serges. Just wanted to see how our pet project was coming along." Serges rolled his eyes again and hopped down to the ground, snapping his fingers as he fell.

Within the span of less than a second, an armored hoverboard skimmed from its stationary position away from him and skimmed just underneath his feet, letting the short Maverick float a few extra inches off of the ground. Serges looked up at the imposing apelike/human face of his counterpart and gave a twisted half smile that curled his white mustache up oddly.

"Do you doubt my abilities to reconstruct him, Violen?" Violen's eyes shifted away, and for a moment his face tone darkened as he blushed.

"No…I don't doubt you. Agile was getting a little antsy." Serges snorted.

"The way that lanky purple maniac acts all the time, SILENCE makes him antsy. You tell him to pop some Valium before I drop some Mine Bombs on his head." Violen chuckled, a deep basso growl in short staccato bursts that seemed to flow over better than his gruff words. Serges floated over so he could get a better look at the screen and folded his arms behind his back in a semblance of parade rest.

"So tell me, Violen. How goes the plans for our great Second Uprising?" The apelike Maverick's eyes lit up as a toothy grin replaced the wan smile before it.

"We are almost done with the recruitment of our eight new Maverick Generals. A few of them show great promise…" Serges flung a hand halfheartedly in the air.

"Tell me later. I want an exact time to work with. When can I expect to move my fun little patch 'em up service to the Paradise?" Serge's voice flickered as he mentioned the last word, giving away to anyone tuning in on the broadcast that it was a codeword of sorts. Violen chewed on the inside of his mouth for a moment, then nodded.

"Soon. Within three days, we will begin the planned invasion."

"And the diversion?" Serges prodded. Violen responded quickly.

"We have set up a small operation in the Middle East at one of our confiscated and unimportant construction facilities. That should keep the Hunters busy until our toehold on Paradise is secured."

"It should…" Serges mused, rubbing his chin. "Remember of course, Sigma SHOULD have won the First Uprising."

"There were two rogue elements that prevented that occurrence, Serges." Violen chided his cohort. "Two tiny grains of sand in the gears that crunched them to a halt. Two Hunters that survived."

"No. One Hunter, and one Damned Lucky idiot." Serges shot back, his eyes aflame. Violen held his tongue for a moment, then smirked and let out a small noise of satisfaction.

"Yes. One Damned Lucky idiot. But it'll be different this time, Serges."

"Oh, I know it'll be different, Violen. Serges out." Serges cut the connection and sighed softly. Shutting his eyes for a moment, he let a rumbling chuckle cascade through him.

"Because now one of those two grains of sand is with us." Serges turned back around and opened his eyes, floating towards the brightly lit operating table he had left alone for a while.

Serges took a small moment to reminisce, and thank the lucky stars above Sigma had the forthright wisdom to divide his forces in the later half of the First Uprising. A smaller branch of his Maverick might had been sent out away from his base, to work in secret and avoid attracting attention to themselves until the time was right.

Three Mavericks under Sigma had been left in charge. The brutish ape reploid Violen, the short legged and short tempered Serges, and the manic long legged psychopath who'd been given the fitting name of Agile.

It was Violen who had remained behind in Sigma's fortress, waiting in a small alcove above the wide battle room where Vile kept his precious purple 'Mech. 

He had seen it all happen. He'd seen Vile catch the fool Zero off guard and throw him in a paralyzing energy cage, and he had seen X fail miserably in his attempt to destroy Vile's baby.

Then with wide eyes, the huge ape had watched as the white and gold and blue colored X absorbed the paralyzing energy from Vile's shoulder cannon into his body as restorative health energy, and Zero break free from his imprisonment and blow the 'Mech…and himself…apart in an impressive and suicidal double Buster overload charge.

Stunned, Violen had seen the enraged X destroy Vile with ONE SHOT…and then comfort Zero in his final moments. The new Blue Bomber had let out such an agonized scream of pain and anger, it made even the brave hearted ape Maverick shudder in fear.

He had waited until X had moved on. Then Violen had made his move.

Dropping down into the abandoned alcove, he walked through strewn metal, blood and flareups until he had located every section of Zero. His head and upper torso had remained attached, and only his legs and lower body had been blown off completely. Still, Violen knew Zero was not in good shape. He'd considered it a morbid momento at the time, a little something he had taken with him as proof of survival from the blue X.

Serges blinked, bringing up another memory file. Violen had returned with his gift package in tow to Serges and Agile, but Agile and Violen did not see the possibilities within the reddish armor and dead processors.

Only Serges, a Maverick who had built reploids for a living before his enlistment knew what could truly be done with it.

Serges finally brought himself out of the lulling flashback trance and climbed up onto his operating chair astride the table.

He looked down with respect, awe, and a little bemusement at the work in progress below.

Its hair was now free of the blood, dirt and grime that had been thrown into it by the struggles, and it shone a bright yellow, lying beside it and going down to the waist. The bluish hairband kept the strands from flying all over the place.

The armor was a bit harder, but no more worrisome to Serges than the hair was. Its red and white colors were now fully showing, as fresh as the day they'd been forged. Fixing the dings was something Serges took pride in.

At the moment, Serges was in the final stage of the project's reconstruction, rebuilding the necessary wiring and internal equipment from the battered stage it had been found in. Even the Control Chip had survived, amazingly. That must have been because unlike so many who had found a quick and fiery death at the end of a plasma Buster in that conflagration, this one had passed away because he had lost his vital body fluids. Serges smiled, a broad smile that extended about his demonic face as he pulled out his magnifier and focused it on the reploid's left arm again.

"Oh my yes, Zero. Don't you worry one bit…Uncle Serges will patch you up good as new." He brought the point of the soldering node down to the connector wires and melted the superconductive metal strips together with a slight puff of smoke. "Oh, yes he will…And when you wake up, you'll be a part of the family." Serges grinned even broader as he mouthed that last word again.

"Yes, Zero…When I'm done with you, you'll be with us. Your new family."

"Zero…a Maverick." Serges liked the sound of that. "And who knows? Perhaps we might find an opportunity sometime in all of this to give you a field test." Serges paused his soldering and looked at the unblinking dead gaze of Zero, a body with no spark of life.

"Oh, how surprised X will be to see you alive." Serges laughed low in his belly, beginning to solder Zero's arm circuits again.

"I just hope he remembers to say his prayers before you blow his head off."


	3. Ray Of Hope

**__**

MEGA MAN X: ISLAND OF AWAKENING

By Erico

CHAPTER ONE: RAY OF HOPE

"Cain's audio diary. December 17th, 2118. Approximately one year and a half ago, I came across the buried capsule that contained X." The gray haired James Cain, famed archaeologist and creator of the reploid race sat back in his office chair and stared up at the ceiling with its blinking lights. He closed his eyes for a moment and paused to shake his head. "All that has occurred since then is a blur. It has all been recorded, all been seen. Within little more than a blink of a human life, the events taken by me have forever changed the world." 

Cain hit the pause button on his handheld recorder and drew in a breath, holding it in as it charged in at him. Finally having regained enough composure after his panic attack, he resumed taping. "The reploid race is here, and it is here to stay despite what many critics say. Reploids hold sentience…and to say that they are anything less than equal to human standards is not only biased and discrimination...it is the same blatant hatred held against past outcasts such as Gypsies, Jews, Native Americans, Africans, Chinese and Koreans." Those words left a bitter taste in his mouth, and Cain snorted. "I am always surprised to find that after all the sacrifices made by Mega Man in the Robot Wars, and now those made by the Hunters, there are still some who are filled with blinding contempt for others. I would have hoped racial hatred would be a thing of the past by now." 

"Of course, I must also admit I had hoped the Maverick threat would be ended with the toll of Sigma's demise. Sadly, his followers carry on in his footsteps." Cain picked himself up and paused the recording again, clutching at a wooden walking stick by his desk and limping along with it, walking out his front door and tucking the little black plastic and metal machine in a side pocket of his blue overcoat with red fringes. Despite what many joked about it, it was not a kimono, nor a bathrobe. It was just close enough to merit such chortling. 

James Cain walked down the hallways that spanned out before him, looping about in a circle. Circles within circles, and five levels totally. This was where he resided, where his place in the circle of world events lied.

This massive structure, glimmering with power in the night and standing as a dark behemoth in the daytime of the relocated Tokyo, was Maverick Hunter Headquarters. Founded early in 2118, it was not even a full year old…

But it was old enough. Within the architecturally sound walkways and interiors of this Tokyo structure lay the very heart of the defense against the reploids gone berserk against humanity…against reploids entitled 'Mavericks' by everyone across the globe.

Cain had often wondered what caused reploids to go Maverick. Was it a glitch in their systems? An override command for self-preservation? Or just a sheer gnawing hatred within them against the humans who scorned them, looked down on them as little more than advanced puppets at their whim with marionette strings?

Sigma was the most puzzling of cases with Maverickism. After all, Cain had built him with what at the time was the most advanced neurorobotic techniques and equipment. He was supposed to be impossible of going Maverick, and being coddled by Cain, X and Cancer, Sigma should have had no reason to scorn humanity. The worst case scenario Cain had assumed back when he was activated was that Sigma would begrudgingly admit that there were good humans and bad humans. Just like there was good and bad in all things. 

Cain shook his head for a moment to clear his mind away from thoughts of Sigma. He was gone and dead, not even buried, but annihilated in the brilliant explosion over the Sea of Japan that had blown his flying fortress and everything within to kingdom come. X had seen to that.

"X…" Cain said softly, letting the combination single syllable and name roll from his lips and float down to his long gray whiskered beard. His walking stick in hand, he weaved slowly about the other Hunters walking about. A lot had happened since the First Uprising.

Like X, for example. The most enigmatic of all human-like robots, and the prototype and surrogate father of the reploid race, there was something within him and him alone that no other reploid could compare to. And Cain admitted it freely. Reploids were just copies of him. X was the one…the original. And within his timid body lay a great power…a power that he shared with his older brother before him.

When Sigma and his top Hunters went Maverick and blew their way out of the MHHQ on June 4th, 2118, they had done one thing that they shouldn't have.

They killed Cancer. Cancer was a yellowish reploid who inhabited the HQ along with X and Cain, not as a Hunter, but a mere presence of a greater whole. Cancer had been the first reploid ever created, and he and X had always seemed so much alike. 

It was Cancer's death that caused something within X to snap. As if a deep ethereal power had spoken through him, X had changed in that moment.

His pure pacifism faded away, filled instead with a burning rage for Sigma, and a desire to stop him from ever harming another.

It was the same kind of role that the original Mega Man had filled when Wily went insane, reprogrammed Light's six prototype super-robots, and tried to take over the world. When someone crazy and powerful beyond all rational means prepared a pitch to strike out freedom and life…

A Mega Man stepped forth to swing and blunt the blow. With Wily, the original. With Sigma, X.

Something deep within Cain nagged at him, and he deeply hoped that there would be no more after X. Somehow, the threat of another crazy violent lunatic on the loose with a blue robot going to stop him didn't exactly ease his already wrenched stomach. 

Cain blinked again and stopped in midstep. As if led by the nose, his walk had taken him to a very important place of the HQ. The Medical Bay. Cain shrugged and stepped in. He could shoot down two birds with one stone by walking in here.

"If you're here for a Dash Thruster upgrade, GET OUT. I don't have any more PARTS, DAMNIT!" A gruff voice from within greeted Cain loudly as the hydraulic doors hissed open. James Cain smiled and let his dark and aged eyes twinkle.

"Hazil, they should have had you on hand when they filmed Grumpy Old Men." 

A reploid inside paused and tensed up his shoulders, then relaxed and let out a small chuckle.

"Yeah. I would have been a damned sight better than that stuck up prick Walter Matthau." The reploid turned around and gave Cain a weary smile, then waved his hand. "Sorry you caught me at a bad time, Cain. It's just all these rookie Hunters we've been draggin in…every one of them wants Thrusters, and then they turn around and play Superman and burn 'em out…AND WANT 'EM REPLACED. Honest to God, I think we should start running a class on proper Thruster Maintenance before we EVER stick a pair of miniaturized rechargeable rockets on their damn feet." 

Cain tapped his walking stick against a medical cot and hopped up onto it, using his good leg to provide the thrust. He addressed Hazil with a knowing gaze of admitted embarassment.

"Yeah, yeah…I know, Hazil. But we do need them. We lost more than 98% of our forces in the First Uprising." Hazil rolled his eyes and stepped out from behind the long bench that served as his desk.

A more appropriate term would be rolled. Hazil was different from other humanoid class reploids in that he had no legs, but rather a wheel base much like tank treads. Anyone who had seen Short Circuit with Steve Guttenberg would make the immediate connection. With his stocky body and oversized chest compartment, any classic cartoon lover would identify another part of his design as Mac from The Jetsons. An amalgamation of old-world views on robots combined with new reploid technologies, the Medical Officer who had arrived back when the Hunters were first instated served the cause with a power few could understand or hope to live up to.

Hazil calmly rolled over to Cain and addressed him with a calm and level gaze.

"So what's your business here, Cain? I don't have you in for a checkup until January third…so you have enough time to get past the New Year's Hangover." Cain shrugged and tapped the bottom of his stick against the ground.

"I'm not really too sure…I just kind of found my way here." Hazil rolled his eyes.

"Getting wistful about the Holiday season? Want a sedative so you can get through the first Christmas with the Hunters?"

"No…I'm just wandering." Cain said finally. He pointed his gaze heavenward, then dropped it back down and pulled his walking stick up higher. "I just still find it hard to believe that so much could change over such a small amount of time." Hazil snorted.

"Yeah. A year ago, reploids were still new on the block. Point being?" Cain shrugged.

"I'm worried about X, Hazil." Hazil blinked, then let his eyes widen knowingly.

"You're talking about the condition of his fragile psyche, aren't you?" Cain nodded.

"X didn't come out of his room for a month after he arrived at base…on June 20th. Whatever happened to him when he fought Sigma scarred him, Hazil. Scarred him in a way I can't identify with, and can't console him about. Not even you could stop him from going catatonic."

"So he's a little mopey." Hazil said plaintively. "He's damn good at what he does, and that's all that matters." Cain let his lips part in a grimace of unease.

"I'm not so sure, Hazil…" Cain tapped his stick on the floor. "Do you remember why the first reploids went Maverick?"

"Because they got fed up with getting the shaft all the time." 

"Exactly. The racial hatred humans placed on them caused their minds to grow to hate humans, and eventually to lash out at them in a deranged state of mind. And something with X…something about him chills me."

"Are you saying X is going to go Maverick?" Hazil asked as he raised an accusing eyebrow. Cain shook his head vigorously.

"No…God no. He sacrificed too much of himself and saw too many others pay the full price to stop them. He won't join the opposing cause. But what I am saying is that the X that we first knew from the time I pulled him out of the ground in April of last year is dying…and being replaced by something different. Something cold…something that does not care for life at all…" Cain hopped down from the medical bench and sighed. "I may be old, but I'm not senile yet. Keep an eye on him." Hazil gave a short nod of his head, then turned back to his computer to let Cain walk out of the room. 

As Cain entered the hallways again, he dropped his hand down to his recording unit and plucked it out, resuming his recording.

"As I was saying, the few surviving Mavericks still exist. Although without Sigma's guidance, their threat has been more of a nuisance than anything. They have resorted to a form of guerilla warfare, striking out at unsuspecting targets, then melting back into the shadows. The Hunters, most of them greenhorns and fresh from the assembly lines are trying their best to squash out the final pockets of resistance…but it is tough going when you don't know where your enemy is located, and where they will strike next."

"However, a Hunting expedition that returned yesterday managed to pick up a Maverick communicator. It is being scanned by our chief technicians as we speak for any signs of hidden danger such as a suicide switch or death bomb, and we should know by the 19th of this month if it is safe to use. If such is the case, it would be a simple matter to piggyback a trace over the comm signal and locate what many of us in the Hunters hope is the only Maverick base left in existence."

"X is now the full time Commander of the Hunters, although I always get the impression from his less than overjoyed mood it is a task he does not particularly enjoy. There is still a large part of him that would like nothing better than to crawl under a rock and simply forget that there's a war going on. He was a pacifist when I met him, and even now as he is the foremost Hunter, his tactics always hold a certain element of restraint. He is nothing like Zero was…But I should not expect him to be like Zero."

"The Crimson Hunter, as many now affectionately call him, was an overeager and particularly violent warrior within our ranks. He arrived as one of the few survivors from the tragedy with Garma's Unit in the Southwest United States, a civilian reploid who somehow undertook his role as a Hunter with great joy. Whether within his wiped mind, he still held a burning hatred for the Mavericks that tore his town apart, or he was programmed with such fight-friendly attitudes, Zero had a burning fire within him that was cool under fire, but also incredibly…chaotic." Cain had to pause to find the right word, and he slowed down his pace, recalling Zero. "Unlike no other Hunter I have seen since, Zero had a spark within him that granted him incredible abilities in battle. Not a physical attribute like strength, but rather just a frenetic blitzkrieging mode he seemed to shift into whenever there was a fight."

"That was what made Zero so good of a Hunter…but it was X in the end who defeated Sigma. Zero proved himself to be noble as well, pushing himself into the ultimate sacrifice to save X's life. Now, only the memory of Zero is alive…for his body is like Sigma's and the fortress it laid in. Exploded atoms and dust particles, swirling over the Sea of Japan. Wherever he resides now, in whatever form, I wish him great thanks and a debt of a case of Heineken…" Cain's face wrinkled up as he remembered the fatal Poker game that had caused him to write the IOU for Zero's liquor. And Cain felt the need to quote right then, so he dug deep in his mind and used a quote from the Star Wars character, Obi-Wan.

"He was the best Starpilot in the galaxy…and he was a good friend." Cain finally stopped recording his message and tucked it in his pocket.

Enough reminiscence for today, he decided. It was time to push forth and put a stop to the Mavericks once and for all.

Then Zero could be proud.

If one was to take a look at the interior workings of the MHHQ, the bustling midsized circular building that lay just outside the edge of Tokyo and right beside its highway, they would find themselves looking into the faces of all the Hunters within.

While it was true that some opted to maintain their time on the few fringe Hunter outposts the GDC had granted them, the majority of the world saving warriors lived and worked here. 

And each of them had a different face, a different view, a different walk that distinguished them from all the others. Some of the Hunters were animalian in appearance, some looked almost entirely robotic. Some did not have legs at all like the Medical Doctor Hazil, and some did not have normal arms, instead being given permanently altered things that aided them in battle.

There were the others in the Hunter Headquarters aside from the warriors, such as the mechanics, the signal operators, and the public relations specialists, not to mention research and development teams and the field medics.

It took all of them to keep the Hunters operational, and each of them knew the important role they played. Most of them were reploids, trying desperately to prove their worth and to make up for the horrible mistakes of their brothers and sisters wreaking havoc about the world.

And their eyes…their eyes spoke of the power within. The cool heads, the psychoid ravagers, and those in between. Each set of eyes had a different story, a different tilt in their eyebrows that seemed to say, 'This is who I am…'

But there was one set of eyes in that mass of bodies that spoke more than any other. That set of eyes was a bluish green in color, not a true shade of either, but a blend of the two. Those eyes had seen death and despair like no other within its gaze, and it had been witness to the most powerful and destructive of emotions known.

Those blue/green eyes belonged to a reploid that wore armor in many shades of blue, topped with a strangely familiar blue helmet and a red control chip cover embedded in the center of the piece.

Those eyes belonged to a person who wished more than anything he did not have to be here.

Those eyes belonged to the greatest Maverick Hunter.

Those eyes…belonged to Mega Man X. 

His walk was without bounce, without meter. Not plodding, but not silent in step, Mega Man X merely clomped along, not particularly caring what others thought of him. 

"All these fresh faces…" X muttered under his breath, his eyes narrowing. "And how many of them shall die in the next battle? How many will live to see three months of service?" X felt his left hand clench up into a fist, a fist that spoke of the embittered rage that still burned within him, rage against the Mavericks that caused nothing but destruction and suffering in their wake. A quiet alarm sounded in his head and X was given a command in the corner of his eye, projected there by his optic nerve's feedback loop.

"Do you wish to arm the X-Buster?" It asked silently, flashing the query in a blink of computer code that was transmitted in less than the blink of a human eye. X shook his head at the question and transmitted a small mental syllable back to his systems. **NO.** The question vanished and X let his hand unclench.

And he kept walking down the hallways. X rubbed his left wrist with his right hand and let his mouth tighten up.

"I haven't used my X-Buster since I destroyed Sigma." X said softly to himself. And in honesty, that was truth. For almost six months now, since June 19th of 2118, he had not. It had remained in his circuits, a permanent part of his original design that could not be altered. Light may have wished X to live in peace, but he had made sure that even if X got rid of his armor, he would still have the X-Buster. The venerable Mark 17 with a Level Three Charge, its design was so similar to all others like it. The Mark 18 his Armor Set had held from the First Uprising had not yet been duplicated, thank goodness. That thing did more than pack a punch.

It could slam a hole through a mountain if the safeties were ignored.

Why X had not taken use of his Buster existed in reasons known to nobody else but himself. X was a pacifist by default, a learned part of his gentile nature. Any death that was unnecessary upset him greatly, and even necessary death, death to save the lives of others affected him. The Buster was a weapon of death, and death was something X had tried to forget about since Zero died.

Zero…the only true friend X had during the First Uprising. Cain was a father figure more than anything…but that blasted Crimson Hunter had truly clicked with X.

It had been interesting to see X handle missions without using his Buster, and a few times he had gotten beat up pretty badly. So badly in fact, that Hazil had insisted upon installing a basic Dash Thruster system into his boots, one that allowed X the same blazing bursts of speed his First Armor set had granted him. After that, it had been easier for X.

Easier to survive. Not easier to stop the guilt and the bitter pain within him. Zero was gone, and it was his fault. And Zero wasn't coming back, couldn't stand up and tell X everything was all right. And because of that, X could never forgive himself.

His eyes began to sting just then, threatening to unleash watery lubricant over his optics to allow X to cry. But X ignored it, pushed the command back and walked on.

He hadn't cried since the night of June 19th, when the Flying Fortress exploded. He'd just gritted his teeth and walked through it. His tears had been taken away, evaporated within to try and quench the fires of self-hatred.

And he walked on.

Mega Man X, the greatest Hunter.

And the greatest bearer of his race's grief.

The Maverick known as Serges was still hard at work on the systems of Zero, and at last had finished repairing the crucial circuits and blood vessels within him that gave his body power and his mind control. Serges grinned a toothy grin and paused to rub his mustache between a thumb and forefinger.

"Of course Zero, you do realize I don't repair and revitalize reploids just for the Hell of it. As a former doctor for reploids, you must realize my HMO's charges are…well, EXPENSIVE. And seeing as you're not currently covered by any insurance, I've had to draw up a new plan of payment for services rendered." Serges cackled. "That cost for new life is service with us. With the Mavericks. After all, we're so short on good, solid warriors these days…chalk it up to that blundering damn lucky idiot X and his Keystone Cops. But THAT'S your lucky break. My boy, if I didn't see promise in you, would I waste my time with you?" A part of Serge's mind brought up an old memory he had, of a very famous movie made back during the 20th Century known as The Music Man. "My friends, ya got trouble. I say ya got trouble right here in River City…"

Suddenly Serges fell forth, gasping for air and clutching at his head. A few stifled screams of pain and then trembling, he fell silent. Slowly he picked himself back up and shook his head back and forth.

"The price of being Maverick. You can't have any DAMN FUN." Serges growled, giving himself the finger. His face sneered up into a bizarre grin as he sighed. "Right, right. Business with NO pleasure. Sure. Whatever. Piss off and let me work." 

Serges snapped the final plate of armor onto Zero's chest and checked to make sure the magnetic clamps took hold. Satisfied, he saw the metal's edges fade away as they blended seamlessly with the rest of the chest armor, aligning to a few molecules of one another.

"So what say you, Zero? Shall we activate you and begin the process of transforming you into a raging Maverick?" Serges grinned again. "Of course, seeing as control chips lose a few vital tidbits of data when a reploid's restored, that makes half my job of brainwashing easy as a Creepy Crawler oven." Serges looked over to his monitors and nodded.

"All your necessary vitals are in place, my friend. Of course, while your brand new twin X-Busters and yellow beam saber are inactive, be sure that when you're on our side they'll be fully powered and ready to rip through helpless Hunters." The Busters were of particular pride to Serges, an innovation unlike any before that was even greater than X's Mark 18 Purple Blast Buster. Since the day of Mega Man, it had always been the same. You could have Busters in both arms, but they could not both be activated. It overloaded the plasma control circuitry and literally blew the energy bomb off in your face, vaporizing arms in a particularly nasty display of self inflicted chaos. Of course, it was also a powerful suicide move, and one that Zero had used. Serges had no intention of his newest prized Maverick repeating that trick.

The yellow saber was modeled after Sigma's somewhat, but its power had been boosted with another innovation that linked Zero's twin Busters to a beam saber recharger pack Serges had welded just above the small of the ex-Hunter's back. Excess energy could be shunted from the Busters and be ported up to the saber, which could then gain the ability to hurl a powerful and concentrated energy blade of plasma a good fifty meters outwards before fading away into nothingness. 

Serges' comm began to chitter, and the ex-doctor frowned, his robotic eye twisting about in a sign of annoyance.

"I'll bet anything it's that fool Agile…" Serges muttered. He clipped his comm to life and routed the signal to his wall communicator. He'd take his call being able to see who he was talking to. "All right then. Who's interrupting me this time?" 

An image flickered to life, and this time it was a pair of individuals staring at him. Once again, the large and rounded apelike face of Violen, but also a lanky purple reploid with bright red eyes and a haunting smile that spoke of hidden intentions or a psychological malfunction. Violen grinned a toothy grin.

"Agile wanted to see you too this time." Agile giggled for a moment and waved his hand at Serges. Serges scowled and gave the purple dolt the finger.

"I'm on the verge of activating Zero's systems with a power infusion. Care to tell me why you've ceased my countdown?" Agile stuck his tongue out indignantly at Serge and shrugged.

"Actually, we were just calling to see if you were almost done with him. If that's the case then, just bring him online. We might all as well be present for the rebirth of the great Zero!" 

"Perfect. I could sell popcorn for this." Serges grumbled, turning about and hovering towards Zero on his stabilized floating platform. He stopped next to a particularly large console and turned about, grinning mischievously at the two reploids behind him on the crystal display screen. Raising a finger, he prepared to push a very large red button on the controls and coughed loudly.

"I'll need a countdown, you two." Agile raised his hand.

"I'll do it! I'll do it! Tennineeightsevensixsivefourthree…" Agile's voice was suddenly clipped off as a large and weighted backhand from the angered Violen sent him sprawling to the floor. Violen turned back to Serges and shrugged.

"Sorry, he's been like this all day."

"Administer a sedative. You care to finish it, Monkey Man?"

"I'm a believer…" Violen said wistfully. He raised another hand. "THREE!!! TWO!!! Uuhh…." Suddenly, Violen's eyes folded over and he took on a confused appearance. "Uuhh…what's after two?" 

Serges groaned and smacked himself in the face with a hand.

"Why in Sigma's holy name were you the other two our great leader assigned to take command if he was killed? Violen, the number is ONE. That's also the number of IQ points I'd expect you to average on any given standardized test. Unless they're quizzing on the number of pounds you can crush with that mace on your butt." Serges rolled his eyes and turned away from the viewscreen, opting instead to look down on his reborn creation.

"It's magic time, Zero…Say Cheese!"

Serges slammed his finger down hard on the red activation button.

"Hey hey hey!" Cain exclaimed as X walked into the main warroom of the MHHQ. While monitors overhead kept constant vigil over the earth, with one screen holding a huge map of the globe and its continents, Hunters below tapped away and kept one ear tuned into headphones that told them important information. X could identify the situation clearly with just his eyes.

There was nothing dangerous, troublesome, or Maverick happening in the world of late. Not even a small blink of a troublesome small group. And that relieved X somewhat. But he was still moody, as moody as he had been when he became a Hunter. Cain noticed it, but chose wisely to ignore the symptoms and push on. 

"X, have anything new to report?" Cain asked. X shrugged and threw Cain a datapadd.

"I overlooked the proposal of reinstating individual Hunter Units. And I think it's a good idea. We have enough Hunters on base now to form at least five Hunter Units. The Second, the Third, the Fourth, the Fifth, and the 17th." Cain frowned.

"Why the 17th? What about the First?" X narrowed his eyes.

"The First Maverick Hunter Unit is just that, Cain. The FIRST. Abetting the fact that they went Maverick and nearly destroyed their own organization, I think it would be insulting to their memory to give someone else that title." Cain rubbed his chin.

He hated it when X made sense.

"All right then, X." Cain said. "I'll start reviewing Hunter stats for Unit placement soon. But it'll be another month before anything solid is in print." X nodded.

"Which means I'm still in charge of over a hundred reploids." Cain nodded.

"Yeah. But admit it, it seems kind of fun!" X rolled his eyes.

"It's no water slide, doc." X looked about the room. "So, I take it things are quiet?"

"Like a wake on the Antarctic." Cain replied. "Although I kind of enjoy the P and Q myself. No doubt you do as well." X opened his mouth to speak…

But a sound stopped him cold. A comm chitter that rang about the war room with a priority one message. Cain hit the transceiver embedded in his command chair.

"Cain here. Who's calling?" 

"Hazil." Came the gruff reply. Cain blinked annoyedly.

"Don't tell me I forgot to take my medicine again."

"Stuff the medicine, doc." Hazil snapped back. X looked over to Cain in surprise. Hazil was rough around the edges, but he never got snippy about his profession. 

Never…so what was doing this now?

"Something wrong, Hazil?" Cain queried, sharing X's sudden confusion. Hazil let out a small sigh of exasperation.

"I wanna see you and X down here in the Medical Bay now. I just got something by express delivery…"

Cain looked up into X's eyes and the two exchanged a questioning glance.

Just what was so important Hazil would disrupt their work?

"All right Hazil, where's the fire?" Cain asked as he hobbled in the door. X followed closely behind, his glum mood pushed back by one of wonder and befuddlement. Hazil rotated his tank tread wheel base around in a 180 to face the two of them, then waited until the door hissed shut. Hazil looked up to the ceiling and spoke.

"Computer, disable all monitoring and recording devices in the Medical Bay until further notice."

"Acknowledged." Came the soothing male basso voice, indicating Hazil's request had been carried out. Hazil pointed at Cain with a finger and silenced his words before they even escaped his mouth.

"Trust me Cain, I have a damn good reason for pulling this stunt. Just sit down someplace where you won't fall…because when I tell you what I have here, it's very likely the BOTH of you will end up losing your balance." Cain shut his mouth and quickly sat down alongside X on an empty medical cot. Hazil nodded, then reached behind him and pulled a container from beside his computer. With an underhanded throw, he lofted it towards X who caught it with ease. X scrutinized the outside of the box, then unsnapped the hinges and peered inside.

A small circuit board of modern design stared right back into his face. X frowned.

"A circuit board…" X's eyes widened. "Hey, this is a reploid control chip!" Hazil snapped his fingers with a fiery fevered gaze.

"Correct, X! The very thing that makes us reploids what we are. The thing that holds our memories, our thoughts, our feelings, and our temperaments. What gives us life beyond simple robots." Hazil turned about and began to roll back and forth between two sections of the Medical Bay, his equivalent of pacing.

"Before the First Uprising, I was working with one Hunter in particular. He was kind of fearful that at some point he'd get the crap beat out of him, and that he'd be shut down. With his help and a little revolutionary warp generator programming, I managed to design a subroutine for his mind and body if he was ever fully shut down, and then reactivated." Hazil paused, then continued, noting that now he had both Cain and X's full attentions.

"Sadly, that prophecy did come true. He passed away, thought lost to the world for all time. His body supposedly blown to atoms in a fiery explosion, I put it out of my mind and forgot about the little mad science experiment we concocted for him." Hazil swiveled and leveled a haunting stare at the two on his cot.

"Until now." Hazil plucked out a Medical Scanner and tossed it at the two of them, and X caught the second object as easily as the first box. "X, if you run a scan on that little control chip there, you'll find the exact same stunning piece of information I did."

X lowered the device down to the box and the chip within and activated the scanner. Within moments its rudimentary scan had completed, and X knew what the scan's main purpose was.

To identify whose control chip this was. And the person it belonged to…

Left X's jaw slack as he gaped like a fish out of water.

"But…but…" Hazil shrugged frantically.

"Obviously X, now you know why I disabled the recording devices in this room. If word of this gets out…it could really have the shit hit the fan." Cain frowned and snatched the device out of X's grasp, reading it for himself.

His reaction also included a surprised gasp for air.

"For the ever lovin cross of Mike…" Cain gaped, his suddenly trembling hand dropping the medical scanner down beside him on the cot. 

Hazil merely folded his arms and allowed himself a wide smile of satisfied superiority.

"Congratulations, you two. We just got a very big early Christmas present…although I believe the proper term is 'batteries not included.' It's missing a few parts…LIKE THE BODY." Hazil sighed. "What I do know is that someone had all of his parts rounded up somewhere, and they were trying to restore power. When that happened, the auto sub-routine I programmed kicked in. Sadly, the parts weren't completely connected. Or we'd have all of him, and not just his brain."

But for X, it was enough. It was hope. A hope that filled his chest to a level of joy that almost made him burst. And the Medical Scanner blinked softly, its message now heard by the three people who deserved to observe it the most.

**_Reploid Control Chip_**

Specification: Maverick Hunter, unit disabled 6-19-2118

Status: Operational, no damage

Identification: Hunter #145

COMMANDER ZERO OMEGA


	4. Enter Oblivion

MEGA MAN X: ISLAND OF AWAKENING **__**

MEGA MAN X: ISLAND OF AWAKENING

By Erico

CHAPTER TWO: ENTER OBLIVION

"All right Serges…" Violen harrumphed, folding his huge burly metal arms. Both he and Agile had warped in to Serge's secluded ocean going hovercraft to seek his progress, and a reason for the chaos that had erupted from it. "You might try running that all past me again…remember, I had my strength enhanced, not my mind." Serges rolled his robotic eye.

"I'll try." Unbelieving, Serges hopped onto his hoverplatform and maneuvered over next to the operating table. It was no different from before. The body of Zero remained intact, from the swirling mass of blond hair to the blood red armor and the green control chip cover embedded in his horned helmet. And Serges growled, cursing himself.

"I had all of Zero's parts reconstructed completely, along with the enhancements I built in. However, to turn him Maverick I needed to get into his mind while there was power in it. I also put power into his body and leg sections, figuring that his repair systems could work on the internal damage I couldn't find." Serge's good eye flashed with rage.

"Needless to say, Zero or someone who he trusted with his inner workings was a tricky, conniving sonofagun with a more than average brain on his shoulders. Something I missed in my cold scans of his brain was a little sub-routine I have only now discovered." Serges turned around se he could look into the faces of Agile and Violen. Agile's lanky purple frame was leaning up against a wall steadily, his blood red eyes and smirking grin betraying the sick and twisted pleasure he was receiving from Serge's discomfort. Serges merely tightened the force of his fist and shouted silent insults at Agile in his mind.

Of course, that was to be expected. Being Maverick altered you…it drowned out all emotions except those concerned with anger, violence, and destruction. So Serges knew that although he was annoyed at Agile, being Maverick only inflamed it, tried to worsen it. And Serges could see Agile's hand reach down precariously close to the hilt of his own beam saber, a curved and twisted thin rapier energy blade that was tinted as blood red as his eyes. 

Serges and Agile had always been at each other's throats from the start. Agile being supremely overconfident having the height advantage, and Serges always cursing at him, building more and more weapons of destruction and plotting to sever Agile at the knees. Somehow, Violen, the huge and boisterous apelike Maverick acted as the control rod for the nuclear reaction that threatened the triad of Maverick leadership. Serges was thankful for that at least.

"So you're saying you underestimated them." Agile sneered. Serges managed to restrain himself from whipping up his Blitzkrieg Buster and hopping into the air, unleashing a spray of deadly plasma firepower that would scorch everything in sight with its circular range.

"Underestimated is a word I wouldn't use, Agile." Serges said through gritted teeth. "Perhaps was duped is one word I'd use. Whoever stuck this nice little sub-routine knew what they were doing, and didn't want anyone like me uncovering it in a cold sweep. The only way to find it would be to restore power to Zero's systems…all of them." Serges allowed himself a sick grin.

"Those devious bastards at the Hunters…I have a very good feeling they came up with this."

"You haven't told us what 'this subroutine' is, Serges." Violen mentioned in exasperation. "Remember, short term attention span and memory…you're not working with my limitations here." Serges waved a hand through the air, ever unflappable and levelheaded with the mace wielding Maverick.

"THIS, Violen. This subroutine had only one function. To route a simple binary code command to Zero's warp generator from his control chip's backup recovery program." Serges tapped in a few keys, letting his huge wall monitor blink in with a detailed schematic of the control chip that once existed inside of Zero's cranium. "The warp generator then would activate with its own sub-routine, and transport the control chip and all connected components to one very important place. The MHHQ." Serges grated his teeth. "As we speak, those foolish Hunters and their doddering leader James Cain are scrutinizing every aspect about it, and more than likely they're stumped beyond all reason." Serges turned about to face his two Maverick companions again.

"Let me tell you the good news and bad news from this. First, the bad news. I always did eat my dessert last…" Serges shook his head and refocused his thoughts. "First of all, they may be able to trace the control chip's warp path, back to the position it was transferred from. As a positive side note, I'm on a freakin boat, so all I need to do is alter my position a few miles and they're in the dark again. Also, this is bound to set off a few alarm bells with Cain and X. After all, Zero was supposedly blown to atoms along with the rest of Sigma's fortress when it crashed into the Sea of Japan. Now that they have Zero's control chip, they're gonna know something's up. Something with the word MAVERICK in it. Dollars to doughnuts they're gonna piece together the obvious puzzle and realize that some Mavericks went into Sigma's fortress before X made it blow and picked up the tattered shreds of the great Crimson Hunter Zero…and are now trying to reactivate him, bring him back online. And I'll tell you this, fellas; if the words 'Maverick', 'Reunification' and 'Zero' are all in the same sentence, they're gonna realize even in the dimmest bulb of the bunch we're piecing the sonofagun back together to go against them as a Maverick."

Silence hung in the room for a very long moment before Violen timidly raised his hand.

"So what's the good news?"

"It's a boy." Serges jokingly replied. Violen raised an eyebrow and thought it over before scratching his head in befuddlement. Serges sighed. "All right, Violen. Don't blow out that high level brain of yours on such miniscule matters. Here's the good part. I kept the main portions of Zero's body separate from one another when I plugged juice into him. His legs, body and arms, and head were all separately activated from one another. If they had been connected when I gave the sonofagun power, then the warp generator would have blasted ALL of Zero back to the MHHQ instead of just his control chip. On that one count we lucked out."

Agile scoffed and shook his thin wiry head.

"Some luck, Serges. Without that control chip, we're dead in the water. Even BLANKS need a primitive form of a control chip to have battle instructions plugged in…and those are predictable as ROBOTS in most cases. The great Hunter Zero is no good to us if we don't have that wonderful little piece of silicon and metal transistors that holds all of what makes him a ruthless, bloody, grade A Hunter…"

"Shut up and don't tell us the obvious." Serges snapped back. Agile's eyes sparked on fire and his right hand shot down, pulling his beam saber free. With a hiss of plasma and activating electromagnetic fields, the blade shimmered to life, filling Agile's pale flesh colored face with an ominous red light.

"Don't push me, screwup." Agile growled, baring his robotic teeth. In response, Serges primed his Blitzkrieg Buster and began to build up a charge, his other hand reaching down to pull a proximity explosive free from a hidden compartment in his hoverplatform. 

Violen's eyes bulged out in surprise, and he jumped in between them.

"ENOUGH!" He bellowed in a combination of aggravation, authority and wracked nerves. The outburst was enough to qualm the inner fires within the other two Mavericks, and finally Agile sneered, deactivating his saber.

"Not worth my time anyway. I'll save my blade for goring Hunters, not incompetents." Serges screamed out a curse and almost leapt into the air, but Violen bent down a bit and flung his morning star tail mace out, smashing it into the metallic deck only inches from Serge's hoverplatform.

"Serges, KNOCKITOFF." Violen said raggedly. That too was enough to finally douse the fires of rage within the other Maverick. Still, Serges couldn't help but flip Agile the bird when he was turned around.

"Look, you two just go off and prep our eight Maverick Generals for the assault on Paradise. Right now, being alone with my resurrection project is all I want, AND NEED. Backseat surgery is something you two think you excel at. When we begin the invasion…two days from now?…I'll arrive at Paradise and join you. For now, just let me work."

Violen let out his breath and looked around for Agile, noting with grim satisfaction the Maverick had already joined the vapor trails for their new and uncompleted base.

Soon enough though, Ice Fortress would be ready…Ice Fortress, from where hidden by all spying eyes and satellites, the Mavericks would rise again and fulfill the quest the great Sigma had begun. Violen shrugged, then activated his own warp generator.

The time of Awakening was coming. 

For all of them.

"Cain's personal Audiodiary, December 18th, 2118. Late last night held something so impressive and so stunning that my mind still reels with the possibilities. In a stroke of luck and a copious amount of foresight from more than six months ago, Hazil programmed Zero's control chip with a final backup measure should he ever go belly up in battle. This was accomplished when X and Zero led the two man suicide attack on Sigma's Flying Fortress over Hokkaido, and succeeded in blowing it apart over the Sea of Japan. Zero was presumed dead, blown to atoms like Sigma and all the others in that fortress maze." Cain hit the pause button on his recorder and swiveled his chair around, making sure that the metallic box with its precious cargo still remained in its place next to his vidphone, while still out of sight.

"But Zero has now returned to us…in spirit, anyways. His control chip alone made the transfer back to us, and Hazil, X and I have come up with the following observations. One, Zero was not destroyed. Somewhere on this earth lies his body, either pieced back together, although more likely still shattered apart like some child's Tinker Toy collection. The fact that only his control chip returned to us implies that whoever holds his parts held all of them, and gave them all power…yet had the dumb luck, or shattering foresight to not have all of Zero fully connected as one whole being. Hazil tells me that the subroutine was so buried, it could only be discovered if power was active in Zero's systems. And by that time, the subroutine would have fulfilled its function."

"Secondly, seeing as Zero's remains were scattered about a battle room inside of Sigma's fortress, there is almost a 100% chance that he lies in Maverick hands. I am fearful of that…Zero was strong, and more than a match for X. If the Mavericks manage to find some way to resurrect Zero without his control chip…Heaven help us." Cain's eyes began to mist over. He knew the destructive potential within Zero. That was an altogether frightening possibility.

"Hazil managed to retrace the warp signature of Zero's control chip, and he placed its origin point as somewhere in the mid to upper Pacific Ocean. Which means that the parts of Zero lie on a boat, and a boat is not something that our computers can trace easily." Cain furrowed his brow.

"The GDC, or Global Defense Council has a very impressive satellite network, and I have pleaded with them to let us use them to track down this boat. But above all else, they are International bureaucrats at their best…and they feel that looking for a small boat in the largest ocean of the world is little better than a massive goose chase. And goose chases do not make money, or restore faith in them. For the government organization that breathed life into us and gave us the carte blanche to stop human genocide, they are bound and determined to limit our powers." Cain chuckled wryly.

"Of course, they waste no expense in flaunting their wealth with resources that could be used to aid us. While, even as we speak a few influential members of the GDC are at their prized gem of the world, a place called Cornus Island. As a matter of fact…" Cain stopped talking, and reached for his TV, turning it on. Sure enough, there it was on CNN. The GDC's press conference, plastered across the world wide Television and Communications Grid for all to see.

"Oh, what fools us mortals be…" Cain sighed wistfully.

"Since the earliest days of our foundation, the Global Defense Council tried its best to realize a world envisioned by the emissaries of the United Nations before us. While that organization was disbanded, we learned from their mistakes and overcame them in the GDC." Councilman Emilius Cristoph, the GDC representative from the AmeriCanadian Alliance of North America beamed brightly, although it was clear to the more experienced eyes behind the cameras and news broadcast microphones that he was delivering little better than a canned speech.

Still, Emilius Cristoph was an enigmatic man whose sparkling blue eyes could dazzle anyone, and combined with his gray hair and disarming smile, seemed to be an exact replica of the elderly neighbor next door. As he stood atop the speaker's podium, he looked down into the hovercameras of the robotic drones and the questioning faces of the reporters sent from across the world. Cristoph smiled again, a wide smile that did two things. Made everyone feel more at ease, and also hide his own smirking realizations that this was little better than propaganda.

"But where the United Nations failed miserably, and inevitably led to its collapse in the year 2077 was the lack of foresight about the unity of the world members. It established a system meant to restrain violence and the horrors of warfare from occurring by use of trade embargoes and in more extreme measures…violence itself. But violence begets only more violence. The Security Council of the GDC eventually collapsed on itself, and with it went the entire foundation."

"But the GDC has taken steps. Violence amongst countries as a means of stopping violence is not the answer, and is more of a final horrific solution after all other means have failed. If the world is to survive, humanity must realize that we are a brotherhood, and if we mean to stop our extinction, we must band together and subdue the forces that seek to destroy us." Cristoph's tone was assertive and meaningful, with an edge of determination. Anyone at that assembly would have assumed he referred to the destructive forces that lay within each human being.

But Emilius Cristoph was also a racist, a fact hidden from the public view by his cautious and shy nature. Emilius Cristoph was one of a very large population on earth that felt reploids were a mockery of humanity, and should be wiped out at all costs…or humanity would be exterminated.

He shook his head, coughing for a moment before continuing. "Here on Cornus Island, the GDC has established the world's only true microcosm of the globe. People from all around the world work in peace and unity on this wide volcanic born structure, completing the various tasks that not only make Cornus Island COMPLETELY self reliant, but also serve to aid the various member countries of the GDC on the outside as well. I speak of course, of our hallowed Energen Crystal Mine, and the underwater studies conducted at the Deep Sea Base as well, to name only two examples. Cornus Island represents what the GDC hopes will be a model for all of the world to follow. All of humanity, banded together, working for a goal that will lead to ultimate peace and harmony for all." Emilius turned to the people standing behind him, all dressed in spotless white lab coats with the familial blue circle and red letters of the GDC insignia patch.

"And to introduce the newest addition to the workings of Cornus Island, I present the hallowed Japanese Engineer and Physicist, Tokiyama Hichiro." Cristoph took a few steps back and raised his left hand to point to the circular glass wearing Asian man standing at the forefront of the scientific team. Polite clapping fell over the crowd, and even Cristoph gave a perfunctory percussion period. Then taking a breath to steady himself, Tokiyama Hichiro stepped forth and adjusted his spectacles. He stood behind the podium and bowed slightly in the traditional Japanese fashion.

"_Ohayoo Gozaimasu_, valued members of the press. As the Honorable Delegate Cristoph has stated, I am Tokiyama Hichiro. I am the leader of a team of GDC hired technicians, scientists and engineers from all over the world. For the past year, we have been working with all speed on a project by all members of humanity in a goal that will forever stand out as a landmark for future generations. United by a common goal, we went beyond the boundaries of our countries and learned that underneath all…all the faldoral, I believe the word is…humanity is so very much alike, no matter what the region or language." More polite clapping, and Tokiyama could deduce that the canned speech he was reading in the corner of his glasses was having the desired effect. The Japanese Scientist had to hand it to that man Cristoph. He was many things, but above all else, he played the crowd like a Stradavarius Violin."

"But you have not yet been told what the purpose and nature of this giant construction project is, and I believe you all are…itching to see the finished product?" There was a few low laughs about the crowd, and some flashbulbs went off, immortalizing Tokiyama Hichiro on digitized film. 

The scientist stepped back to his group of scientific leaders and shook all of their hands vigorously for a few moments, and then all of them turned back to grin happily at the audience, and the members of the GDC that watched in interest. Tokiyama took in a deep breath and began to speak again.

"Cornus Island stands for what the world can become with enough effort. A global community where all nations work together, brother and brother turning their weapons into tools of creation and not destruction. But for all the good that Cornus Island offers, there are still those forces, human and natural alike that threaten us. To combat this problem, the scientists from around the world worked in secret with the GDC's help, and we have now succeeded in creating a guardian being for the island. Honored members of the press, it is my great honor to introduce you to the world's Ninth Wonder of The World…The Cornus Island Defense Mobile Dinosaur Tank!"

A sudden rumbling suddenly became heard throughout the assembly, and behind the temporary stage and podium of the scientists and the delegates of the GDC, the air shimmered and quivered with unnatural power.

And then as if born from the wind itself, a greenish glow began to overcome the air, replacing it…a glow that soon calmed down to reveal in its place a metallic presence.

It towered above the audience, a massive green metallic behemoth that bristled with white shards of metal along its back. The tank was a perfect oversized model of the Stegosaurus, save for the noticeable rivetwork and the treads underneath that provided propulsion. The crowd literally cried out in fear and shock, and even Cristoph's mouth fell open a bit.

The Dino Tank was a very menacing sight indeed. Tokiyama cleared his throat and spoke up again.

"I now present the main designer behind the island defense vehicle, Doctor Faahzid Bannash." Tokiyama Hichiro stepped back a few paces and bowed slightly as another member of the scientific team stepped forth. Faahzid was most definitely Middle Eastern, and by his name, a devotee to the Religion of Islam. He pushed back his coarse hair and gave his bronzed features a quick nod at the audience before accessing the podium's holographic controls. Within a few clicks of the keyboard, he had brought up two gigantic rotating holographic models of the tank on either side of him. The crowd remained silent, watching in sheer awe as they watched.

"I commend all of you for being here. Surely, this will be a moment in history that should be recorded by all means possible. This represents the greatest hope for preserving the legacy that lies on this island. And I am sure that many of you wonder what exactly this tank is capable of. My purpose here is to tell you EXACTLY what it can do." Faahzid smiled a bit. "One of the things that I appreciate about the GDC is its openness. Unlike if this had been developed by any one country, its unification by all member nations and workers allows us to show you its true nature. There is no lies, no hidden secrets, no dark corners about it." Faahzid blinked, then spoke up again.

"As you all noticed, it seemed to appear out of thin air. That is because the Dino Tank is equipped with a short term cloaking device. It cannot sustain cloak for very long, and if it is using power for other things, the period of cloak drops even shorter. Nonetheless, while it is in cloak mode, it cannot be detected by ANY MEANS. Not even infared or metallic detection. The cloaking barrier envelops the entire craft with a highly advanced electromagnetic shield that allows light molecules to pass through everything, so you can effectively see through it. The shield also blocks all emissions, which is why it cannot be detected. Many years have gone into this particular device, due to the fact that the electromagnetic field's harmonics had to be developed intricately so that it would not pose a threat to biologics. Like something out of science fiction…we have made it science fact." Murmurs of stunned awe filled the audience, and datapadds worked furiously to record his words. This was something that happened only rarely…

"The Dino Tank's primary power source relies on Cold Fusion, like many craft of today. But the Dino Tank's power demands are immense, and a simple Cold Fusion Generator is not enough to supply the raw energy needed for all of the craft's functions. It was therefore an obstacle we had to overcome. The most obvious solution was to build a series of Cold Fusion Generators in the lower decks of the Dino Tank, and this would more than supply all the required power demands." Faahzid grinned broadly, inferring to all watching that he had an ace up his sleeve. The other scientists watched simply, beaming with a childlike giddiness that betrayed they were party to the secret as well.

"But it is not the only option, and the multiple Fusion Generators would have required intense maintenance and observation to keep them all in check. It would make it grossly unfeasible, and therefore unusable to us. That is when our scientific team had a breakthrough. As you all may or may not know, Energen Crystals are valued about the world. Their incredible perfection and design gives them almost unlimited capacity to transfer data and light signals through them, like massive bobsled chutes with the transmissions riding on the downwards spiral. Thanks to the discovery and application of Energen Crystals, mankind was able to design and create for the first time in history, quantum computers that use light transmissions instead of electrical impulses. We knew what Energen Crystals could do…and many thought that what we were planning with them was fantasy." Faahzid chuckled. "Once again, science fiction has become science fact."

The rotating holograms of the Dino Tank focused in and dropped down, going through the hull and zooming the display onto the engine room. More murmurs of shock filled the room as it was revealed to everyone's eyes that the tank was powered…BY A SINGLE COLD FUSION GENERATOR!

"We are able to utilize only one Fusion Generator in the tank, because its power output is placed in the crystals. What we discovered is that if the molecular design of the processed Energen Crystals is altered, we could effectively turn these shimmering shards of highly compressed carbon and zinc into STORAGE BATTERIES." That stunned the audience silent, and Faahzid continued. "Not just an average storage battery, by any means. It is perhaps the most efficient rechargeable design...and the best part is that it was created by the earth's natural geological actions. Energen Crystals are borne out of volcanic eruptions, much like gold deposits and obsidian. And on Cornus Island, one that was formed FROM a volcanic eruption, we hold one of the best producing Energen Crystal mines on earth. It takes only two hours for an Energen Crystal Battery, as we call them, to be completely charged by the Cold Fusion Generator on board. What is surprising is that the charge in the Crystal builds exponentially. For every joule we transfer into its intricate molecular pathways, it activates an internal process we do not yet completely understand and creates two more! Therefore, a charge of two hours connected to the Fusion Generator holds enough power within the crystal battery to power the Dino Tank's entire energy needs for five days…in normal power use. Once the charge is drained, the tank merely switches over to a similarly connected crystal and informs the crew on board that the crystal needs recharging. Initial experiments show that these ultrapure Energen Crystal Batteries can be reused upwards of at least 200 times before their internal pathways degrade beyond the point that they can store power. When this occurs, the Energen Crystals are simply low level quantum computer circuits, and can be used in computers for as long as it is required. There is no waste, no difficult containment units, and most impressively, no dangerous radiation. The power within the crystals is just that…Within the Crystals. They remain cool to the touch even fully charged, and do not emit dangerous levels of radiation. In effect…they emanate less power than the average TV screen." That brought chuckles, and Faahzid cleared his throat, bringing the holographic displays away from the craft's interior and once more viewing the Dino Tank as a whole.

"The Dino Tank is capable of achieving speeds up into seventy kilometers per hour on its treadmills alone, however we have also designed it with secondary propulsion in the manner of thrusters and hoverjets. This allows the Dino Tank to not only service itself on land, but it can also go out to sea. With all of its thrusters firing, the Dino Tank can push itself up to speeds of three hundred miles an hour if it's airborne. While this does create a substantial drain on the Energen Batteries, we have designed the Engine Room to equip ten Energen Crystal Batteries at once in such massive mobility situations."

"Aside from its defensive cloaking mechanism which you have all seen in action, the Dino Tank is built with thick armor plate to absorb heavy artillery from everything such as explosive shells to the newer plasma blaster weaponry. And of course, this is not a craft that is easily boarded! Its electromagnetic shield can be altered to serve as an anti-warp particle shield, effectively blocking the warp signatures of enemies from penetrating the craft on the outside."

"In terms of firepower, the Dino Tank utilizes defense type weaponry, mainly. Short range plasma multibarrel turrets have been installed on the rear, sides, top and front of the craft. It can also fire off condensed electromagnetic energy pods, which have homing capabilities and are designed to short out enemy electronics. In the most dire cases of attack, meaning should an enemy be able to climb its way on board the Dino Tank and avoid the EM shield, the plasma cannons and the EM pods, the entire hull of the Dino Tank can be electrified, giving anyone who risks boarding…a shocking surprise." Laughs galore at that joke. 

"The Dino Tank is designed for defense, to protect the island from exterior forces that would threaten what Cornus Island holds. But even the Dino Tank cannot reach everywhere. The craft also comes equipped with a fully loaded Hangar Bay, which can hold a maximum of twenty eight Type 2 Chimera Mechs, and thirty two Landchaser Cycles. These secondary smaller vehicles serve as subsidiaries to the tank, allowing personnel to go anywhere and do anything, such as critical rescue operations."

"The Dino Tank stands at an impressive 75.2 meters high, and is 89.45 meters long from its tail to its nose. It weighs approximately 110 Metric Tons, cost two hundred million GlobalDollars to make, and is equipped with the latest in computer technology. It is staffed by a full time complement of one hundred humans and fifteen human class reploids, and it has taken approximately 11.68 years from its earliest stages in planning to make."

"The Dino Tank will be stationed at Cornus Island on a permanent basis, going about wherever it is needed. It stands as a symbol for all the world, of power put to one means; protection. It is not meant to ravage about in other countries and enslave populaces, it is meant to protect them from those who would do them greivous harm. I have valued every moment of working on this project with all my fellow scientists from across the world, and it is my sincere hope that if people like us can join together and accomplish something this magnificent, then there is a real hope for the entire world. On behalf of the GDC and everyone here, I would like to thank all members of the press for covering this story. Information packets will be handed to you by our representatives as you leave the island. If you wish for an interview, we shall be here for another two hours." Faahzid bowed slightly, and then the reporters began shouting out questions.

On the other end of a Television Monitor, the transmission was silenced as Agile's dextrous metallic hand punched the off button to his remote.

He frowned and narrowed his blazing red eyes, rubbing a hand about the bottom of his stubbled chin. Then he nodded his head, and reached over to activate his comm.

"Agile to Serges. Agile to Serges. Over?" It took a few seconds, but he got his response. 

"What is it, Ag?" Serges said with a tired voice. Agile swiveled about in his command chair and looked about the room, still unfinished as robotic workers droned about, welding floor plates and console panels into place.

"I just finished watching a pretty interesting press conference from Paradise. It seems that the GDC built a new toy." Serges' end of the line was silent for a moment before he spoke.

"Oh? Something that might help us?" Agile grinned feverishly, baring his white synthteeth to the open air.

"Immensely. It's a hulking Dino Tank with every mode of defense, a self sustaining energy capacity, a hangar bay filled with Mechs and Landchaser Cycles, hovercapacity and a fifteen reploid crew complement."

"Herm…" Serges said thoughtfully for a few moments, scratching the base of his chin. "Agile, I see definite possibilities here. Who's our most ruthless Maverick?"

"Of the generals?" Agile asked. "If it's them you're talking about, it'd have to be the one that just hurled Violen across the room recently and almost sliced his tail mace off. Goes by the name of Wheel Gator."

"Self proclaimed?"

"No…I gave him the name." Agile said, grinning again. "Somehow Jasper didn't seem to fit him."

"I see…" Serges mused. "Well, we'll make the Dino Tank one of our targets when we attack Paradise then. Tell Wheel Gator that's his new assignment. Now, I still gotta work on Zero some more, all right?" Agile nodded.

"Rightyo. I'll tell Violen ya said hi." Agile quipped. Serges shut off the connection without further comment.

Agile picked himself up out of the command chair of the new Maverick base called Ice Fortress. He looked about himself, and was pleased to see that construction was going well. With any luck, the entire Fortress would be fully assembled by New Year's.

He laughed, a laugh that echoed about the metallic hallways and rattled off of the Mavericks and robotic worker drones inside of the structure. But the laugh carried out.

And finally found its way free of the metallic structure that stood out in the Arctic Ocean like an immense oil rig. Agile had to laugh.

He and the other Mavericks were planning the largest Uprising yet seen, in a massive coup de grace that no one would be able to stop. And the forces that be didn't know where the Mavericks were.

The North Pole. Ice Fortress. Truly, it was the best location they could have picked. No one placed satellite cameras above the North Pole.

By New Year's Ice Fortress would be complete.

And Agile knew what a great New Year it would be.


	5. A Maverick's Red Herring

MEGA MAN X: ISLAND OF AWAKENING **__**

MEGA MAN X: ISLAND OF AWAKENING

By Erico

CHAPTER THREE: A MAVERICK'S RED HERRING

"Great. Just friggin great." Hazil grumbled as he handed X a datapadd. The doctor was rolling about the entire HQ with the leader of the Hunters, comparing notes, names, and records in an attempt to sift through the megabytes of data and assign Hunters to units. And X noted with solemn irritation that he was wasting no time in complaining about everything that could even possibly tick him off. The latest being the GDC and their spending habits.

X tried to ignore him and stared at the current list of six names on his datapadd. Kluver, Ossad, Zanuck, Nirvana, Malloy and Riley…But Hazil rambled on.

"I mean, it makes no sense! Cornus Island is the GDC's pride and joy to be sure…but no one pisses with it! It's like frigging sacred burial grounds. Sure, building that Dino Tank may have stuck a few above normal eggheads together for a few years and changed their perspectives on how the world works…but you heard how much they blew! That's more than four times the operating budget they set aside for us."

"That upsets you?" X said absentmindedly as he tagged Unit placement markers beside the names and brought up more. Fernice, Jannsen, Seder, Danforth, Lowell…

"Damn straight!" Hazil snorted dejectedly, taking a look at X's choices and making slight adjustments on their psychological profiles. No sense in sticking people together that would end up being at each other's throats instead of the Mavericks. "If it weren't for the kaboodle of dough that Cain coughs up every year to keep things around here halfway decent, it'd be…it'd be…"

"Military?" X queried wryly. Hazil nodded and sighed.

"With the hash marks, purple hearts and Service Medals. The whole bit."

"Understandable." X said softly, tagging his last few names and shutting the padd off. "After all, when all's said and done, you have to have a place to come home to and unwind. Blowing fellow reploids to atoms because they're considered Mavericks does have severe psychological effects on people." Hazil noted that as X continued to speak, his voice took on a harsher and harsher tone. And the doctor spoke up in return, his retort seeming a little harsher than he meant it.

"I suppose you would know a lot about that, hero." X froze, and Hazil whirred back a few inches on his treads, tightening up from the blow that X might decide to whack him with.

But it never came. X released his tension with a sigh and merely shook his head.

"Hazil, tell me you haven't forgotten what I told you on the morning of June 20th."

"You said a lot of things, X." Hazil replied softly. X's eyes did not fill with frustration, irritation, or aggravation. They filled with sadness.

"I said that in war, there are no heroes…only mourners." X said finally. "Zero tried to rhyme his epithet and decided to pursue being a hero. He was killed. And now he's being held by the Mavericks." Hazil blinked a few moments, and knew that X was fast approaching the barrier of depression he had skated on these past months. Being a knowledgeable doctor on not only matters of the body, but the mind as well, he opted to change the subject and spare the prototype more grief.

"So why did people call Mega Man a hero?" X shrugged.

"Who knows what was going through their minds? But I have a sneaking suspicion that my older brother never really appreciated it much…" X's eyes misted over, as if he had entered a trance and had been taken to another plane of existence. "There was a song composed by an old 20th Century Rock Band called Styx…the title of the song was Mr. Roboto." Hazil crossed his arms.

"It seems pertinent, then."

"How did the lyrics go…" X's voice trailed off. "I'm not a hero…I'm not a savior…forget what you know…I'm just a man whose circumstances went beyond my control…" X shook his head. "That's how the song went. And the more I think about it, I believe that they had him in mind when they did it." 

"Or you." Hazil noted poignantly. "Admit it. Those same lyrics fit you as well." X's greenish blue eyes blinked softly for a moment, and then the greatest Hunter nodded his head. 

"They do indeed. I think you'll find that in a lot of songs in the past, their messages seem to parallel the thoughts, feelings and emotions of crucial people in the world today." Hazil sighed. X was leading him into a philosophical debate.

"Music is supposedly the window to the soul, some say. But on to more recent events. What do you think about the GDC's new Dino Tank?" X shrugged.

"You want the optimist or the realist to speak?" Hazil raised and eyebrow and grinned cockishly.

"Give me both. I'll pick the one I like." 

"Optimist first then. The GDC is an organization that seems to be on the track to accomplishing great things, and I believe that if they want to flaunt their powers by building a localized, Cornus Island only defense Juggernaut, that's their freakin perogative as long as they don't touch my paycheck." X rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"The realist sees a familial correlation into the history of the past. After my older brother Mega Man defeated Wily in two Robot Rebellions, the gray haired lunatic supposedly recovered the wits and senses that had left him years ago in the teleportational experiment gone awry. That experiment, by the way is what caused Mega Man's older brother Protoman to be blinked away to fend for himself as he made his way back on the long trip home. Wily asked forgiveness for the acts he had committed while insane, and pledged to work with my father Doctor Light in a project that would forever protect the world."

"This project Hazil, was the construction of a giant peacekeeping robot codenamed Gamma. It was immense in size like the GDC's Dino Tank, and was designed to keep order and protect the world, like the Dino Tank is supposedly going to protect the island. Of course, the designs made by Wily in the early stages called for eight specific variants of Energen Crystals. They couldn't just MAKE THEM. This was back before they had molecular altering technology. These were found in seven remote regions about the earth…and one which had been found on the dark side of the moon. Of course, these eight locations just HAPPENED to be having difficulties at the time, thanks to the Robot Overseers going berserk and taking over, creating strongholds to which none could enter, and thankfully none left."

"So Wily and Light asked Mega Man to once more don the guise of the 'hero' and go about to these locations, stopping the Robot Rebellions and collecting the eight diverse elements. Mega Man accomplished the goal in spades, and along the way kept running smack into his older brother Protoman. He didn't find out about the red and gray robot's true nature until AFTER the entire Rebellion, of course."

"And this peacekeeping robot Gamma was finished as planned. Light and Wily had worked together to create a metallic behemoth who now at last had a working power system and a highly advanced neural network thanks to the crystals. And here's where things get bad."

"Wily turned around, shoved Light out of the picture and dragged Gamma back to his new Skull Fortress. Mega Man arrived a bit later than usual, thanks to the fact he had to deal with a Wily robot known only as 'Doc Robot.' I'll tell you, that one doppleganger posed more danger to Mega Man than all of the eight Robot Masters did."

"And when Mega Man went to face Wily and bring him to justice, the insane doctor who had never reformed, and had been lying through his teeth the entire time, brought the gigantic robot Gamma to bear on him. And then it was with bitter truth that Mega Man and the world realized something that day."

"Big giant metallic guardians may seem like a good idea, but there's too great of a chance that their power will end up in the wrong hands. And that's when they hold the potential for destruction. That's when the guardians reverse roles and become conquerors."

X blinked a few times and finally shook his head to bring himself out of his trance. Hazil stared at the blue Hunter for some time, his mouth slightly open as he gaped in amazement. Finally, the Medical Reploid came to his senses enough to whistle in appreciation and suck in a breath.

"X, I don't know what to say. The simple fact you know this much…and have that opinion…" Hazil's eyes darkened. "Now I'm jittery about that Dino Tank." X nodded.

"Thought you would be. And I know that much because I have a desire to know things." X's eyes twinkled sadly. "If I hadn't been a destroyer of misled reploids, I could be a History Teacher."

X remained silent after that, and Hazil found himself unable to tear his gaze away from the childlike and enigmatic features of the Hunter. No matter what, X's eyes held a twinkle in them that few reploids could match. Of course, seeing as he was the original, perhaps X was entitled to a little difference. Hazil decided the world owed him that much.

"Come on. If we've got all the lists done, let's bring them in to Cain and do some final piecework on the suckers. I'd like to get this over with so I can get back to work sterilizing my needles." 

"Aye, Captain." X said softly. "Aye."

"Agile to Violen. Come in, Violen." The lanky purple Maverick blinked his reddish eyes for a moment, then finally growled. "Violen, if you don't respond I'm gonna…"

"Ease off, hotshot." Violen grumbled, finally activating his own connection and silencing Agile in midsentence. "I assume you're calling to find out about my progress with the Red Herring."

"That I am."

"The base is easy enough. Abandoned reploid construction facility which was picked up by us covertly, now still considered unusable, no one suspects it is still in production."

"What model reploids did they build there?" Agile asked, scratching the bottom of his chin.

"Half breeds, mostly. Not complete reploids, but mostly robotic hoverdrones and ground pounders, that sort of thing. They have enough smarts in them to avoid damage, yet they're still cheap enough to produce en masse. They lack any sense of free will, which makes them little better than smart drones." 

"That's good and dandy." Agile replied. "Be sure to get a few more shipments out before we activate the comm grid and point the place out for the entire world."

"Your hoverdrones are as good as there. What kind of defense do you want me to keep on base?" Agile furrowed his brow, picturing Violen at the abandoned desert facility in the Middle East, sand blowing about his massive metallic feet.

"Don't make it too easy. If they get wise, that wouldn't be good."

"Not too much, not too little. Do I sense a retelling of the Goldilocks and Bears horror story?" Agile frowned.

"Violen, what have you been smoking? There's no horror in Goldilocks. She eats their food and zonks out in their beds." Violen chuckled a bit, a low chuckle that filled the comm with a sense of dread.

"In my version, they rip her head off and kick it about for Rugby. The curls make it aerodynamically sound, doncha know." Agile laughed in response, his bloodthirsty mind just picturing the lumbering furry creatures destroying a senseless human.

And in place of the growling bears, he saw himself and Violen standing there, severing her neck muscles one by one as she screamed out in unimaginable agony…

Agile shook his head and brought himself out of his trance.

"I'll have to keep that version in our database then. Violen, finish up there and meet me back at the insertion point to Paradise. One final rally of our forces, and then it's showtime."

"Serges gonna be there?" Violen queried. Agile shrugged. 

"He said he still had work to do with Zero. But don't worry. He'll make it to Paradise as well as any of us. Agile, out." The comm went dead.

Violen blinked his optics for a moment before turning around to face the Maverick standing beside him, one of the new Maverick Generals that Serges, Agile, and Violen had recruited for the great Second Uprising. In his past life, he was known as Jasper, a rambunctious and hot tempered animal reploid who worked for an underwater drilling corporation in Australia.

In this one, he was a long jawed, hunched over metallic demon with a mouth full of deadly teeth, a whippish tail, powerful legs that could shoot him in the air like a spring, and a pair of matter generators on his shoulder blades that allowed him to hurl wall climbing buzzsaws.

In his life as a Maverick, Jasper the driller was now Wheel Gator, the most violent and gung-ho member of the team of eight. He grinned a toothy grin and looked at Violen with a knowing look.

"Waaht of it, mate? That limey Agile had a thing or two the say, eh?" Violen nodded his head and deactivated his own comm. He swung his arms behind his back, making sure not to slam them into the morning star mace attached there and walked towards the outskirts of the facility. Willingly, Wheel Gator followed, his walk oafish and jerky. Of course, considering he was modeled after an Alligator, they weren't designed to walk on two feet.

"That he did, Gator. Put up medium security drones about the interior, and a few heavy 'Mechs on the outside."

"Hey mate, I got me a great new 'Mech design, and it can fire two rounds every second. Not yeeh average energy blast, I'm talking a heavy explosive shell that bursts on impact and scatters whoever's enough of a doink into the bloody kingdom come itself."

"What do you call it? Trailblazer?" Wheel Gator grinned and waggled a finger.

"Not quite. I call it a Party Favor." Violen frowned.

"Odd name. Then again…you're Australian, right?"

"If I'm not, then the bloody sun shines up my arse. Yeeh damn right I'm Australian. And if yeh wanna know why I call it a party favor, it's because we do things differently. What do yeh call a Type Four Pacific Storm Disturbance?"

"A typhoon."

"I call it a summer shower." Wheel Gator said, grinning widely. Violen smacked himself in the face as the train of thought finally checked into his station.

"I see where this is going. Next you're going to say Foster's…"

"Australian for beer." Wheel Gator finished, slapping Violen on the back. "Don't you worry your big monkey 'ead off one bit. Ol' Wheel Gator will straighten this mess up and get it workin nice." Violen nodded.

"Just be sure you get to the checkpoint soon. Remember, it's up to you to tame the beast when we take Paradise." Wheel Gator cracked his knuckled and exposed a claw for a moment, reaching up with it to scratch the edge of his teeth.

"Don't I know it…Now don't worry. I'm sure as two Reptiles we'll get along fine. It'll be like hanging out with me great great great great granddad!" Violen shook his head and walked out of the facility, passing a massive green 'Mech that Wheel Gator had described. Alone to himself and the desert sky, Agile let the wind blow hot sand across his body as he whistled.

"I thought being Maverick took out all the fun stuff in life. Somehow, Wheel Gator still finds the time to crack sick jokes…and even I enjoy gorrific stories." Violen shrugged. "All in all, it's not a bad life." Violen grinned, baring his teeth.

"Not to mention as the bonus you get to kill all the humans you want."

In the MHHQ, a Hunter who doubled as an electrical technician was examining the recovered Maverick Communicator. His armor was green and brown, and his helmet had odd apertures on the lateral sides. 

He stood at about medium height and weight for reploids, with a Mark 17 X-Buster and a basic Dash Thruster system. Unseen on the outside was his strikingly bluish hair, but everyone immediately noticed the eerie brown eyes that belonged to him. 

His name was immediately identified as reploid. He was known as Gearloose. A side name he had held before joining the Hunters was Vitorro, but he preferred the power that Gearloose carried with it. 

And at the moment, he was staring through a high powered magnification lens, trying to make sense of the circuitry that had been melted. Over the past hour, he had managed to repair much of the damage to it…but this one section was more severely damaged, and he had saved it for last.

"Blast it…" Gearloose grunted, blinking for a moment. "No way in Hell this all makes sense…no way in Hell…" He pulled back from the circuit board and wiped the sweat from his brow.

Cain and Commander X chose that moment to come walking through the door, both looking anxious for results. Gearloose silently clenched a fist inside of his mind, but left his hands slack as they approached. Cain stopped his hobbling and leaned farther down on his stick.

"Report, Mister Gearloose." The green and brown reploid shrugged, walking over to obtain his still cold strawberry soda.

"Good news or bad news?" X crossed his arms.

"We've been getting a lot of that lately. Just tell us both." Gearloose cracked a weak smile. X was a straightforward reploid, and his predictability was something that Gearloose appreciated.

"All right then, boss. When we rescued this little piece of hardware, it had taken a few dings from stray Buster shots on both sides. Needless to say, a Maverick comm that had been on a now vaporized foe before it was obtained is not the best kind of condition you hope to find it in. I've managed to patch up a lot of the minimal circuit damage to it…" Gearloose sighed and brought his magnification scope over the crucially damaged area, then motioned to X. The leader of the Hunters walked over and placidly stared through it, giving only a slight nod of his head.

"Like I was saying, I managed to repair most of the minimal damage. But this…this particular area was banged up the worst, being the part of the board that was eaten away by a lucky shot. Prelim scans showed no hidden subroutines or explosive charges. Trust me, this thing wasn't booby trapped. We just kind of shot it past uselessness." Gearloose finished. X narrowed his gaze further through the scope and scrutinized it closely.

"So you can't repair it?" Gearloose shrugged again.

"Hey, if I knew the original circuit pathway design, I could just scrap that one section and build a new component to it. The comm chip that was soldered onto that part managed to survive. But I can't do squat if I don't know the original design…and that thing's so slagged, I can't make head or tail of it." Gearloose sighed in resignation, scratching the back of his helmet. "I'm sorry, X. There's nothing more I can do."

But X wasn't listening to the defeatist words of Gearloose with all his mind. He still had a significant part dedicated to viewing the circuit pathways, and something about them…

He narrowed his gaze further, his mouth curling up into a glaring jowl. 

"Hold on…" X said softly, staring at it for a moment longer. Sure, the plastic in the area was blackened slag, but somehow the metal pathways although melted, were strangely…

X stumbled back in surprise for a moment, then regained his composure and stared at it again.

"My God…" X gaped. He could hardly believe it. Those Mavericks…those devious Mavericks… 

"Hey Gearloose…if I knew what the circuit pathways originally looked like, how long would it take you to fix this puppy and get it operational?"

"With a replicator…five minutes." Gearloose grunted in surprise. "But that'd mean…" Gearloose shook his head in disbelief. "You know what the pathway looks like?"

X shut the magnification scope off and turned to a nearby desktop PC. Bringing a CAD program online, he brought up a familiar emblem of colored metal that was familiar to all the Hunters.

From the pointed nose to the Trapezoidal shape and the wolfish resemblance…the Maverick Logo. X then brought up a frozen image of the damaged circuit board and overlaid it on top of the computerized Maverick logo.

Gearloose let his jaw drop. Although the metallic pathways in the plastic slag were warped and definitely not to original specs…

"I'll be a Goddamned Gold Digger…" Cain exhaled in stunned fury. "The Mavericks based a circuit board design on their own emblem…" X nodded, smiling a bit as he stepped back and let Gearloose trace the design on the screen with his fingers.

"Gearloose, this isn't the first such occurrence of this type of thing. Back when humanity was just beginning to experiment with the true potential of microcircuitry, designers would sometimes leave little hidden images onto the chip as well. From a Waldo, with red hat and all, to little antannaed aliens, the humans dabbled with their fun pasttime. These were so small they usually went unnoticed." X turned about to face Cain.

"But the Mavericks were pretty deliberate about this one. Still, I have to hand it to them…deviously hard to recreate to an untrained eye." Cain rolled his tongue about the inside of his mouth.

"So how did you know it was supposed to look like that?" X's eyes dimmed out and his smile vanished.

"Cain, I fought them for two weeks in the First Uprising. You tend to notice when they have that insignia on them. It burns into your memory…a ghost image you never completely get rid of." Cain lowered his gaze.

"I'm sorry, X." He turned over to Gearloose and gave a short nod of his head. "X and I will be in the War Room. When you get that thing repaired, bring it up to us. We'll turn it on and see what our little friends are up to…" Cain rubbed his hands together, the glistening fires lighting themselves again in his eyes.

"This time, we'll finish off the Mavericks for good. I promise you that." 

Life was good for one Emilius Cristoph, the AmeriCanadian representative for the GDC. He leaned back into his padded seat and calmly sipped on a mint julip, noting with satisfaction that the stewardess had actually gotten it right and kept it just cold enough.

He looked across from him, noting that the other members of the GDC entourage were also holding similar gazes of satisfied happiness. All in all, it had been a good day. On their prized gem island, Cornus, they had managed to create over the past decade a gigantic metallic behemoth that would stand as a foreboding warning to all that the GDC was not to be tampered with. It was a feeling within him of pride, of invincibility…really, of ego. And Emilius Cristoph had enough ego to pass around to ten other people. 

"I'd say that the GDC has outdone itself this time." Cristoph said with an upraised air, beaming at his comrades.

Kannah Jadim of the Saharan Delegation smiled and nodded his gray haired head, a stark contrast to his dark brown skin. Tilting his own carbonated soda about in his grip, Jadim continued.

"Mister Cristoph, I feel this represents the beginning of a new age. An age where the petty squabbles of individual nations will take a different turn. If this prototype Dino Tank proves to be successful, then I believe that the Council will make a unanimous vote to build more…enough so that one can exist in every region. Imagine it! A world, finally at peace…with the guardians standing above all, watching. And the best part is that they are controlled by humans, and not Artificial Intelligence." Geoffrey Lyons, the British GDC delegate coughed for a moment before snuffing his cigar out.

"Rather. We'll have none of those bloody Mavericks problems surrounding our tanks. I just really can't stand them one bit…matter of fact, I'm really sort of cold to reploids in general. I'm sorry if that makes me seem like a boor, but that's just my beliefs."

Cristoph's silent eyes spoke volumes as they flickered to life, spreading out to his smile and deepening it. He lifted his mint julip in salute and emanated a small chuckle.

"Believe me Mister Lyons, you are in good company. Don't worry about it." Cristoph sighed, shaking his head. "I too feel that we made a mistake in building reploids. For all the supposed good they do for us, they hold too much possibility for striking back. That's why we have the Hunters. But they're no better than the Mavericks, in my opinion. Just a different group of heavily armed reploids, fighting under a different flag."

Jadim frowned and blinked. "Pardon me Mister Cristoph, but there are humans in the Hunters as well." Cristoph shrugged.

"I refer to the majority, delegate Jadim. There are a few humans with the Hunters, yes. But most of those humans are not in combat roles. The most visible of them, Cain…his duties there are purely bureaucratic. I have my own personal belief about who the Hunters are. I think that they're nothing better than a group of reploids who want to kill, and they feel that by fighting on our side, they'll get more out of it. After all, they get paid, they get room and board, and they get to play hero. All in all, not a bad package deal…and it attracts the most unsavory of them." Jadim narrowed his eyes and pointed at Cristoph.

"Somehow I get the distinct impression you are hostile to them…more than you should be, considering that they protect the world from the Mavericks."

"What? The few skirmishes that we have from time to time?" Jadim shook his head at Cristoph's biting reply.

"No…the Uprisings." Cristoph laughed.

"Oh, please. There's only been ONE Uprising. And the leader of that revolt is now dead. Sigma was a Maverick Hunter before he changed sides. There is most definitely something disturbing about that snap change that frightens us. What happens if the Hunters all decide the Mavericks have been correct all along? Then we find ourselves facing an even bigger threat…one that could indeed carry out the plans of human genocide."

"Cristoph, are you familiar with history?" Jadim asked, his voice now low and cold as ice. Cristoph downed the last of his julip and slammed the glass on his armrest.

"Enough."

"Then tell me about why the United Nations went to war against the Serbs…against Iraq when Hussein began to wipe out the Kurds." Cristoph opened his mouth and began to speak, but Jadim flung his hand out and continued, silencing the delegate with his forceful continuance.

"I'll tell you why. The UN went to war against them because those two powers were committing GENOCIDE…threatening to destroy the very fabric of morality, and if it had continued, it might well have gone global. In that same respect, that is why the Hunters keep facing the Mavericks. I assure you Cristoph, those Maverick Hunters aren't in it for the money, the benefits, or the free health care." Jadim leaned forward in his seat, letting his smoldering eyes burn themselves into Cristoph's skull.

"They do it because those in the Hunters have a sense of morality…a sense that many HUMANS seem to lack. They know that while there is injustice, racism, and harassment of reploids by the humans, achieving victories over these obstacles by mass killing and cold blooded revenge is not the answer. They know that the very existence of the Mavericks threatens them all, because there are some humans who would leap on them all, bad apples or not like a pack of wild dogs and persecute the whole lot. Cristoph, your views only prove that like the Nazis before you, you are filled with burning hatred and a grievous bias against a race of intelligent beings that are trying their best to LIVE…and live better than us." Jadim leaned back in his seat and shook his head, his face now beet red.

"It is people like you, Cristoph, that keep the world from moving forth into an age of peace. As long as there are those who would cause conflict over petty issues of discrimination and superiority, there will be no surcease to the endless chain we cease to break."

Cristoph took it all in stride, absorbing the angry words of his fellow GDC delegate with a blank stare of mild interest.

But inside he was seething. Seething, because he wanted to scream out in rage, hurl himself across the cabin of the airplane and strangle Jadim's breath out of him. Jadim sighed and covered his eyes, still shaking his head.

And when no one else in the traveler's compartment was looking, Cristoph vented his rage.

Even in old age, he was strong. And his angry trembling hand lowered itself and the empty polymer glass down next to the floor…polymer glass that was built to withstand a fall of fifteen feet without a crack.

With one conscious muscular command, Emilius Cristoph tightened his grip on the glass.

It silently blossomed into a jagged pattern of spiderweb cracks before finally turning into pieces and falling loose from his grasp.

_He's wrong…They're all wrong…_Cristoph seethed silently in his mind, somehow containing the incredible rage and maintaining a blank stare.

His mind was as dark and clouded as the increasing droplets of blood coming from his gashed hand.

The War Room of the Maverick Hunters was a bustling and busy place, filled with humans and reploids alike chattering in their various languages. Some were wearing headsets and scanning the airwaves for alerts of trouble, a task best filled by reploids with higher data absorption clockspeeds. Built like the operating bridge of a Star Trek ship, all the stations were designed to face forward towards the main viewscreen. A viewscreen that was currently showing a map of the earth, tinted green in a sign that there were no disturbances anywhere.

Cain leaned back in his reclining chair and looked about. Placed in the center of the room on an upraised section of metal, he could watch everything that was happening with relative ease. It was the Hunter's main command chair, a chair that no one but him had ever filled. 

At the current moment because he had nothing better to do, aside from perhaps dusting off his arrowhead collection, the aged yet venerable James Cain was waiting patiently for and the reploid technician known as Gearloose to arrive. Today was now Six P.M. on December 19th, 2118, which meant that they could bring the Maverick Communicator online and hopefully be able to trace the transmissions to the final Maverick outpost. Cain allowed himself a wry grin.

Then the Maverick followers of Sigma would be forever destroyed…and along with them, the world's greatest threat. 

X chose that moment to walk through the hissing hydraulic doors that led to the spiraling hallways. He looked over at Cain and addressed the man with a curd nod before speaking.

"Gearloose got the gizmo ready yet?" X asked. Cain shrugged.

"He hasn't come in. Try ringing him up on the horn." X harrumphed and brought his wrist up to his mouth. With a subconscious command, he slid a section of his armband back to reveal a sophisticated wristcomm and keyed in the frequency for Gearloose's own.

"Commander X to Hunter Gearloose. You reading me?" The response was immediate.

"Five by five, X. What's up?" 

"Cain and I are here in the War Room, just wondering where you've gone off to with our hot tamale."

"Try looking behind you, true blue." Gearloose said with a chuckle. X swiveled about just in time to see the green and brown colored Hunter walk through the hydarulic doors, carrying the intricate Maverick comm in one hand. X shut his comm off and slid his armband back into place, then folded his arms.

"About time you got it working…Are we all ready to do this?" A quick look over to the signal triangulation console gave X a view of a confident magenta colored reploid who flipped him a thumbs up. Cain shrugged.

"No time like the present. If the safeties are all active, and this thing's not gonna bite…light it up, Gearloose." 

Gearloose hit the power switch to the repaired mechanism and then dialed in it's function; receive only. He nodded his head at Cain, then walked over to the transmission console and plugged it in. The War Room's speakers were then filled with the empty static of unused Maverick channels as Gearloose squinted his eyes and began to try frequency after frequency in the comm's range. 

X and the rest of the Maverick Hunters exchanged glances of concern and anxious nervousness as the frequencies produced static, one by one. There was an all too real possibility this one device might have been abandoned by the Mavericks…

"HOLD IT!!!" Gearloose yelped out loudly, his eyes bulging in surprise. He listened in closely over his headset and grinned. "Eight ball, corner pocket. Hold on all, I'm tuning you in." 

A few buttons pressed on the console next to Gearloose, and soon the scratchy voice of a male reploid filled the speakers of the War Room.

"Wheel Gator here…I think we're bloody well prepped. Shipment's out the door as we speak." X swiveled to the signal trangulation console.

"Can you trace it? Hurry, it sounds like he'll be ending the transmission soon!" The human at the console groaned at what his screen showed him.

"It's encoded! Gearloose, what's the encoder sequence?" Gearloose didn't even look up as he snapped the answer back.

"Beta 22niner…I put in the designation to the Hunter's main computer bank fifteen minutes ago. It should recognize it." The human brushed back his frazzled black hair for a moment, quickly typed in the code Gearloose had given him, and grinned when the computer beeped a positive tone.

"Got it! Frequency decoded…I'm tracing it now." With that estabilished, X, Cain, and Gearloose tuned their ears back on the conversation, which was decidedly one way. Whoever this 'Wheel Gator' was speaking to didn't want anyone else to know where they were.

"Ya know, I'm not really a creature of the desert…give me those old muddy swamplands any day, ya know mate?" Wheel Gator's voice paused for a moment, then he let out a grunt of surprise. "Bloody Hell! Agile, don't key in a response! My signal's being traced!" The signal cut off abruptly, leaving static and a stunned room of Hunters. 

Cain turned his chair about to face the human who was tracing the signal.

"Did we get it?" He asked tersely. The human gritted his teeth and typed in a few rapid key commands, then sighed in relief and relaxed his pose.

"Yeah, we got 'em. Signal source pinpointed…took me a while because it was so weak. The reason he detected it was I put in a feedback loop between our comm and his. Boosted the signal and gave us an exact location fix. But I'll tell you, those Mavericks won't be using this kind of comm from now on." Gearloose shut the comm off and groaned.

"Great. I go to all that trouble to fix it, and now you tell me that it's useless junk." The human shrugged and gave a wry smile.

"Not exactly. Makes for one Hell of a dinner table curiosity." X cleared his throat and looked over to the human.

"So where are they?" The human typed in a few key commands, and then fed the computer the coordinate data. The computers whirred for a moment, and then the main viewscreen activated.

The globe rotated for a moment before highlighting an area of the Middle Eastern Peninsula on the west side of Eurasia, then zooming in closer and closer. The human tapped his fingers on the plastic countertop beside him.

"It seems our Maverick friends have been setting up shop in an abandoned Arabic Confederation reploid construction facility." X rolled his eyes.

"Seems a bit like gangsters and abandoned warehouses during Prohibition to me." The human shrugged and looked at X.

"Makes perfect sense. I mean, who's going to look for them in the middle of nowhere?" 

"Us." Cain said finally, pushing free from his chair and leaning on his walking stick for support. He directed a stern gaze at X and nodded his head.

"X, I'm leaving it to you and whatever Hunters feel like volunteering for a group of fifteen to get to that facility in the desert and put a stop to them. Time is of the essence…now that they know company's coming, they'll be on full alert." Cain rubbed his chin for a moment, then snapped his fingers. "X, you might as well take the Landchasers with you. Hangar Bay three, now…I'll tell the crews to prep their engines."

X folded his arms and gave Cain a stare of worry.

"Cain, we haven't even field tested those things yet!" Cain shrugged.

"WE may have not, but they were designed by the GDC. And if they say they'll run, then they will. I want to give you and the other Hunters a fair shot at getting there fast and furious…those Landchaser Hovercycles are the only hot ticket in town." Cain turned about to all the Hunters present in the room, and adopted a pseudo-serious stare of intense purpose.

"I want all of you to be keyed up. We are going to put an end to them tonight…we are going to at last wash away the final remnants of Sigma and his Maverick Uprising. All of us are going to have to work at a hundred and ten percent, got it?"

Sharp cries of affirmation filled the room, and even X could see what was happening.

X could see it in their eyes. All their hopes, all their dreams, all their promises to themselves and to the world that they could protect it from the Mavericks…

Was culminating in this. 

X tightened up his fist, once again feeling the cold hand of fear, panic, and loathing fill him. Not again…he didn't want to take more lives…

If only Zero was here…Zero could help him. Zero was a REAL Hunter…

**_Do you wish to arm the X-Buster?_** X blinked in shock as the thought filled his mind again. He groaned and sent back his response.

**NO.** The query vanished from the corner of his eye, and once more he was staring at the room.

But the sense of foreboding was with him still. It was like X had a Sixth Sense for danger…a second sight that told him there was perils afoot.

And as he watched, he shivered subconsciously.

He could almost feel death's cold and bony hand on his shoulder…waiting…

Waiting for someone to die tonight.


	6. Pheonix In The Desert

MEGA MAN X: ISLAND OF AWAKENING **__**

MEGA MAN X: ISLAND OF AWAKENING

By Erico

CHAPTER FOUR: PHOENIX IN THE DESERT

"The Maverick Base is on full alert, X." Gearloose said placatingly as they ran through the MHHQ's many hallways. X merely nodded his head, not completely focused. Somehow he wished all of this…just wasn't real. It meant he would have to lead Hunters to destroy more reploids.

"Point being, Gearloose?" X replied raggedly. The green and brown armored Hunter scratched a helmet wing and shrugged.

"Well, it means that we won't be able to just warp in there…more than likely, they'll have an EM shield up. And going on foot'll be suicide, if they gave that place automated gun emplacements."

"I assume you have a solution." 

"Cain mentioned we should take the Landchasers. But there's something on those cycles they don't usually mention to people, because they're afraid that they'll be reckless with them."

"Oh?" X said, raising his eyebrow a bit. The Landchasers were GDC designed and manufactured, and seeing as they were weapons, he'd never read up fully on them. "How would it help?" Gearloose shrugged.

"If our cycles get under heavy fire…knock on wood, I'll bet…what we can do is push these babies BEYOND normal operating capacity and add a few extra ergs of thrust."

"Increase the speed beyond safeties?" X said, his voice slightly rising. Gearloose nodded.

"Yup, that's the ticket all right!" X shook his head.

"It's crazy. Isn't there a possibility that they'll go critical and explode?" Gearloose shrugged, his eyes dimming out.

"About as much of a possibility that we'll get blown to atoms by the Mavericks if we go in slow." X shook his head again.

"Either way…means death. There's no way to win, is there?" Gearloose laughed bitterly.

"The life of a Hunter is often short and filled with woe…but God, is it a ride." X found that Gearlooses' words were correct, and his viewpoint one that even X shared. 

Finally, they stood outside of the door to the main hangar bay, looking at it with nervous anticipation. X stepped forth and pushed it open.

The other Hunters were already there, moving about and picking their Landchaser cycles for the mission ahead. X looked at them. A few he knew…just by name. 

Not one of the Hunters here did he know on even the level of a new friend. They were all just workers…workers in a massive conglomeration of troops. 

X stepped forth and gingerly sat on the padded seat of his own cycle, feeling the controls for the first time. It felt odd…yet at the same time, ergodynamic and efficient. This craft had been designed well. 

The engine was already turned on, and the repulsors underneath X kept the Landchaser in the air. He looked about himself, noting that all the other Hunters had ceased their conversations and were now watching him with a look that demanded leadership.

They were looking to him…the most senior of the Hunters…for their orders. X fought the sickening swell in his stomach for a moment from his reaction, then wondered how a reploid, a being of metal and silicon could ever get queasy.

Then again…he was designed to be a robotic human. Perhaps the reploids on earth did not have this response…but X was the prototype of the reploids. Neither robot nor reploid, a twisted halfbreed amalgamation. Light had built him like this…built him for a reason. 

"To create peace…or to create a race that brings with it destruction…" X mused bitterly. 

"Commander X, sir?" one of the Hunters asked calmly. X looked up from his moody view of the Landchaser's handlebars and stared up at the fresh face. 

"Yes, Mannok?" The indigo and magenta colored reploid shifted in his bike seat and stared at him again.

"Just where should we put down exactly from the base?" X thought for a moment, then hit his own cycle's datapadd.

Accessing a GPS connection, he brought up the Maverick Base's coordinates and cross-referenced them with the surrounding terrain. Flat, sandy dunes in every direction. 

"Galldarnit…there's no tactical advantage to this situation in the least…" X said wearily. Finally, he punched in a different set of coordinates and relayed the information to every other operational Landchaser in the hangar bay. The other Hunters looked down for a moment and replied their affirmatives to X's Landchaser computer.

X blinked his eyes wearily and throttled the engine up higher, activating the Landchaser's comm system.

"This is Commander X to all Hunters on this mission. When we go in, we'll be expected, we'll have no cover, and we'll more than likely be outgunned. But if we don't do this, then the Mavericks will still have a chance to live…and our sacrifices will be all for nothing."

X's words were solemn, and carried throughout the bay with a dismal ring. Even the mechanics and technicians who maintained the craft used by the Hunters paused and bowed their heads, absorbing the sound.

"As much as some of you may hate it, and as much of you are eager in anticipation, we'll all be facing the same FUBAR tonight. And if luck is with us…we'll come out of it alive." X shook his head and blinked his eyes, activating his warp generator. He interlinked his signature with the cycle's and let his generator calculate the power drain to transport both to the required coordinates.

But X had enough sense to look over to the doorway that led to the rest of the HQ. Standing there with a look of worry and a brooding stare was Cain, leaning slightly on his walking stick. 

Cain raised his hand in a flat palmed gesture and motioned to X. Then he mouthed his words over the Landchaser's assorted whines.

_Be careful, X. Come back alive…_

X nodded his head, but didn't send back a reply. He knew that Cain knew what he was thinking.

_Doc…Alive is just a state of mind. Inside, I'm already dead._

X shut his eyes, and at long last the void above the skies of Tokyo absorbed him…

One warp signature among many…

Destined for a place of death.

Their target was codenamed Paradise. The time for implementation…

Thirty seconds from now. Agile shifted his nervous eyes one more time and dropped his gaze down to his wrist. A part of the armor slid back to reveal an LCD screen, capable of displaying everything from system stats to GPS coordinates…and of course, the ever accomplished watch.

He cursed at the slowness of the clock and lifted his eyes again. Up at the front of the hovercraft he was in sat Violen, calmly ignoring the distractions behind him and driving the massive machine across the swollen waves of the Pacific. His control over the craft was so focused, Agile had yet to feel a bump from being smashed about over the salty waters.

Their distance to Paradise…Cornus Island…was now five miles.

Which, for Agile was five miles too many.

"Can this thing go any faster?!" Agile finally yowled. Violen didn't turn about to answer, but he did lift one hand from the wheel and begrudgingly give his counterpart the finger.

Agile sighed and tried to calm his racing mind…a task he found particularly difficult, being one of the jumpiest reploids ever constructed. A glitch in his self control circuits had never been fixed, buried too deep to be corrected without permanently deleting his very essence…without wiping him blank.

So he tried to focus on their goal at hand. Cornus Island was so close now…so damn close.

Those fools at the GDC would have never expected this. And they couldn't even detect them.

Agile grinned and thought back. It was a stroke of genius to have one of their Maverick Generals infiltrate the island. He worked as a janitor for the Island's most vital areas, which gave him full access. Surreptitiously, over the course of three months now, Magna Centipede had been supplying data on the island to the Mavericks, everything from scanning frequencies to the numbers of human and reploid workers…and eight major points of interest which would become the Maverick focal points and strongholds on the island once it was claimed.

As a matter of fact, Magna Centipede was at this very moment cleaning out the trash cans and sweeping the floor of the Central Computer facility located in the middle of the island. At least, that was his official guise to the GDC. Magna Centipede, with his surprising ability to warp dash from point to point about a room was able to look busy at work for the security cameras, yet all the time be tapping in commands to the computer console responsible for watching the skies and waves about Cornus.

It was this, and a cloaking device Serges had prepared for their hovercraft a few weeks ago that kept the Maverick's approach a secret. 

Agile grinned his toothy grin.

Oh, things were moving so perfectly. And because he was evil…Because he was Maverick…

Agile knew that Mister Murphy, the indomitable spirit of screwups and clusterfracks wouldn't show up.

He looked about his hovercraft, noting Violen's presence up at the front again. Sitting behind him was a few generals, and the scout Mavericks under their command.

Overdrive Ostrich…Crystal Snail…Flame Stag and Bubble Crab.

In a second hovercraft close behind and to the left of Agile's resided the second attack group. In that one resided Morph Moth, Wheel Gator and Wire Sponge.

And on his right sped the workboat that belonged to Serges. He also was partaking of this initial assault on Cornus, for his boat held powerful plasma cannons that could disable the outer defenses…and the long range missiles he was packing would come in handy for bombarding inner island gun emplacements.

Agile's wristcomm suddenly began beeping with a _deedle-deedle_ that signified a priority one message. 

His eyes shifted back to his current time and he smiled a small toothy grin. Clenching his other fist up, he raised his wristcomm to his mouth and activated it.

"Agile here. That you, Magna?"

"General Magnus here. Five seconds to initial strike."

"Best of luck to you, Magnus." Agile replied easily, his voice barely contained by the excitement he was feeling. He picked up Magna Centipede's double click response, and then the line went dead.

Agile activated his comm's broad transmitter. This would let him reach every Maverick within five miles…exactly the right distance.

"Mavericks, this is Agile. OPEN FIRE!"

The desert sands blew about lazily in the calm night winds, as the clear blue sky above let stars twinkle down with a brightness that would be unimaginable by the city lights.

It was a place of serenity, a place of infinite peace, a place where time stood still and all just revelled in the joy of watching the silence enfold them.

But all moments must end…dreams fade away and leave people with sleep laden eyes awaken to the reality, however grim it is.

And the silence was cut down in that moment as a grouping of fifteen Landchaser class Hovercycles spouted angry flames behind them and burned across the sandy dunes.

Each pair of eyes that resided on the cycles was focused intensely on the goal, a goal that was growing closer and closer now. The lights of the supposedly abandoned reploid construction facility stood out in the darkness, and as they grew closer, they could see that the sand had swept over what had to once be a concrete roadway. There was a series of overhead street lights that led all the way to the facility, clearly indicating where it had once stood. 

Mega Man X narrowed his gaze and examined the pathway. He looked up ahead as far as his ultrasensitive optics could carry and could just barely make out what seemed to be some sort of entryway to the facility at the end of the roadway…a perfect entrance. It was probably a loading dock before.

He tapped his Landchaser's comm and interlinked with Gearloose's, who was a few feet behind him and a lot to the left. The green and brown Hunter had been right about increasing the speed of the hovercycles, and by popping the front end of the craft up into a wheelie, he had been able to redirect the thrust and increase it, pushing him forth fast and farther. A few of the other Hunters on this trek were repeating Gearloose's example, although some were fumbling to keep the wheelie going for much longer than a few seconds.

"Gearloose?" The green and brown Hunter blinked a few times at his distance from X, then punched in his own transmitter activation.

"That you bossman?" 

"Yeah. I have a question, Gearloose."

"Shoot…" Gearloose chuckled a bit. "Go ahead and ask, I mean."

"You see those street lights close by?"

"The ones that supposedly lead up to an entrance for this sucker? Hard to miss."

"I assume you know what I'm going to suggest."

"Yep. Want me to relay the command to the others?" X thought for a long moment, then shrugged.

"Only send seven Hunters up there for now. Keep the others in a standby position back here."

"I'm on it, boss." Gearloose said with finality. He ended the two way comm and punched up his unitwide transponder, activating the receivers on every Landchaser cycle about him.

"This is Gearloose! All Hunters, Commander X has given the goahead. Seven of you are going to follow the buried roadway between the street lights there and try to break into the base through that loading dock entrance. The rest of us will wait back here for the second wave."

The responses came fast and furious, the rashest of the group volunteering immediately. As Gearloose, X, and the remaining others waited in a stationary position at the edge of the abandoned roadway, the seven volunteers sped ahead, setting their comms to unitwide transmission.

"All right Hunters, let's LIGHT EM UP!"

"Yee HAW!" One eager Hunter fired off a shot of plasma from the nose cannon in the Landchaser, which sent the rest of them into a frenzy of speeding and firing.

Of course, in their rash haste, they forgot to keep their eyes peeled for danger…

Which meant they never saw the laser cannons emerge from their stationary positions about the perimeter of the base, one mile out from the facility.

But they did see the bright flashes of light emerge from the darkness.

And it was only when the Landchaser and the Hunter on it at the very front of the first assault exploded, shredded apart by a multitude of dead on autoturrets that they realized what trouble they were in.

"Gods, NO! DISPERSE!!!" Came the cry of one shocked Hunter as he began to turn his Landchaser about.

A laser blast struck dead on in his chest, piercing all the way through the armor and into his internal microfusion generator. The containment field penetrated, the fusion reaction went out of control and swallowed both him and his Landchaser in a glorious white hot explosion of energy twenty feet thick.

That explosion carried out and chewed off the back ends of two more Landchaser riding Hunters, sending their vehicles grinding into the sand dunes and hurling them clear. They at least survived, being flung from their cycles before more laserfire blew the machines to shreds.

And the stationary Hunters waiting behind watched open mouthed and horrified as their comrades were torn to atoms.

"HELP! HELP, THEY'VE GOT US…" One Hunter's final transmission was cut short by another distant explosion.

X's bluish green eyes widened in fear as he saw the carnage unfold, his mouth lowering into a gasp.

"Oh no…" He whispered in a low trembling tone. 

It was happening…again…

Reploids, dying in white hot fury…because of him…

His fault…

Zero…Ahead of him in the night, standing in front of the explosions of the Landchasers suddenly emerged a ghostly figure, his arm blown off and bleeding, his helmet chewed up, his legs lying uselessly behind the crawling figure.

X's eyes went dim as he lost focus…became lost, only seeing Zero. 

Zero, reaching out with eyes that spoke of unimaginable pain.

_X!!!_

Why, X?! Why do you always let your allies DIE?!

XX!!!!!

**"X!"** shouted Gearloose loudly. X snapped out of his trance with a cry of surprise as a strong arm gripped his own. He looked over to see Gearloose with a frantic and extremely angered stare gazing at him.

"X! Goddamnit, THIS IS NO TIME TO BE FREEZING UP ON US!" Gearloose shouted.

X brought his jaw back up to the rest of his face and shook his head.

"I'm…I'm…"

"Sorry, I know." Gearloose replied tersely. "Come on." Gearloose turned to the other Hunters, waiting with jittery nerves for orders.

"You all wait here for two minutes. X and I are going to shoot on ahead and save the others…then I want you all to come charging in, full speed, guns blazing, twisting in every possible jink you can come up with. I want you to SLAG this place. Are we clear on that?"

"YESSIR!" Came the reply. Gearloose shook his head, suddenly looking more tired than X had ever seen him before.

"God Help us, X." Gearloose punched up his engine controls and gave his cycle full throttle. In a burst of speed, he shot ahead.

X also hit the gas, burning the sand into hot melted glass as he went. He blinked his eyes a few times, then shook his head.

The gigantic ghost of Zero was gone.

An illusion…a hallucination…

Or a guilt ridden memory that was haunting him? X's eyes teared up a bit as he thought about it.

He had let Zero down.

He had let those dead Hunters down…he'd sent them off to die…

A failure. X was no Hunter.

"I'm not supposed to be here…" X whispered raggedly. "Saints above…I'm no Hero…" And he remembered his quote. 'There are no heroes…only mourners.'

"I'm just an imposter who comes with skills Zero taught me…" X whispered quietly.

"Just an abandoned child with Hallowed Crimson Memories."

The forces on Cornus had been caught off totally unawares of the evil scheme. Their first warning of trouble had been the loud concussion reports and the billowing smoke and fire pouring from the island's outer gun emplacements.

"What the--!" Bellowed a human suddenly. Tumbling out of his bed and brushing back his bedraggled brown hair, he quickly slipped on his uniform and plowed out of his room.

The hydraulic doors hissed apart in front of him and the human, Commander Gerald Naismith found himself once more in the gigantic bridge of the GDC's prize and joy, the hulking Dino Tank.

The night shift was still on duty, although the sun was beginning to rise in the early morning hours. 

"Report, Mister Lablange!" barked Naismith. The narrow eyed Frenchman looked up from his monitor, his face clearly displaying the shock he was feeling.

"Cornus Island is under attack…"

"Who, Damnit?! Where?!" Lablange gritted his teeth and shook his head vigorously.

"I don't know, sir! My scanners are showing NOTHING unusual within twenty miles from here…" Naismith rubbed his chin before shaking his head.

"Run a diagnostic, Mister Lablange." He turned to the others aboard, Fandam of Greece, Smythe of England, and the plucky reploid weapons operator aboard the bridge, Damien. "Fandam, put us in contact with GDC HQ. Smythe, get me the Central Computer facility. Maybe they can identify the attackers. Damien, put us on RED ALERT!" 

Naismith waited patiently after his orders had been delivered and sat down in his command chair. Something about this particular incident had him chilled…chilled to the bone. And then the replies came in.

Lablange spoke first, shaking his head. "Diagnostic readout's in the green, Commander. It's like whoever's out there blowing up our defense grid…isn't there…"

"Commander, I can't reach GDC HQ…All I'm getting is static!" Fandam said in disbelief. "I don't understand…we don't have any sunspots swirling around in the Magnetosphere…" Damien cursed at his controls and backhanded the targeting toggle in front of him, drawing Naismith's eyes.

"Damien, what's wrong?" Naismith asked, his voice beginning to betray the worry he was feeling. Damien turned up and glared, shaking his head.

"It don't make no freakin sense, boss…I'm COMPLETELY locked out from the Dino Tank's systems. I can't even CLOAK…Much less fire our guns." Naismith let out a large groan and drew a hand across his face.

"This is crazy…Just too crazy…"

"Err…Commander?" Smythe said suddenly, looking up at his leader in surprise. He lifted his headphone and lipmike free from his face, blinking a few times to clear the stunned look off of his face. "Beggin' your pardon sah, but…The Central Computer Facility's contacting US…" Naismith sighed in relief.

At least THEY were still able to be hailed.

"Onscreen, Mister Smythe." The huge monitor in front of them switched from the external front view cameras to fuzzy static, then a slightly unclear transmission, which then cleaned itself up.

Staring back at them was a purplish, insect-like reploid with wide eyes and mandibles astraddle its mouth.

"This is Magnus. Dino Tank, are you reading me?" Naismith blinked in surprise, then keyed in his microphone.

"Magnus, this is Commander Naismith aboard the GDC Dino Tank. We're picking up explosions and the loss of outer Cornus gun emplacements…can you verify?" Magnus's eyes narrowed, and his voice dropped.

"Yeah…I can verify. I'm picking it up here." Magnus looked down for a second, and Naismith and his bridge crew could pick up the sound of the reploid typing something on the console's keyboard. Damien looked up and blinked a few times.

"Magnus? I know you…Hey, you're just a Janitor!" Damien frowned. "How do you know to contact us?" Magnus looked up and blinked, then grinned.

"Hey, a reploid isn't stupid just because people say we are. I've picked up a few tricks along my way." Naismith waved his hand in the air.

"Whatever, Magnus. Listen, we have a problem. Our scanners show that Cornus is not under attack…we can't detect any incoming unfriendlies. Are you picking up a different reading there?" Magnus chuckled a bit and typed in a few more keys.

"Oh, I'd say so. Hold on, I'll route my data to your processors on my signal uplink." 

The image went fuzzy for a moment, and then Damien's console lit up with a new radar image. The reploid's eyes went wide as he examined the data.

"SHEEIT! Two hovercrafts and one heavy attack boat…" Naismith's eyes went wide, and he pounded a fist into an open hand.

"I knew it! Magnus, thanks for the data. But we're a little dead in the water here…We need you to get a signal out to the GDC HQ. Tell them we're under attack!" 

Magnus seemed to ponder over the idea for a moment, then shook his head.

"Not possible, Commander. I assume your own communications equipment's out on the blink?" Naismith nodded, his heart falling.

"Yours is too?" Magnus chuckled a bit and grinned.

"Oh, not exactly. It just won't be possible to send out long range transmissions for now. You see, there's an EM bubble surrounding the island that won't let any radio or any other kind of signal out." Naismith blinked in surprise.

"How do you know that?!" Magnus laughed loudly for a moment, then suddenly stopped and glared at the screen with a menacing gaze that froze Naismith's veins to ice.

"Quite simple. I MADE IT." 

Damien broke the uneasy silence that followed with a quick report.

"Commander, the Hovercraft have moved past the outer Ring…ONE'S COMING OUR WAY!" Naismith's hands turned a pale shade of white as he gripped onto his armrest more firmly.

"Magnus…" He growled, still scared by the reploid's admission. "What are you saying?" Magnus growled right back.

"I'd prefer it if you used my TRUE NAME from now on. You can call me Magna Centipede. And you want to know what's coming your way, my soon to be dead human friend?" Magna maneuvered his face closer to the camera so Naismith could hear his exhalations. "Those are MAVERICKS. The real deal. The final followers of Sigma." Magna stepped back and grinned a sick grin.

"Oh my yes, indeed. Cornus Island is a fine plum, a ripe fruit meant to be plucked by a starving group…that would be us. Of course, the current resident are going to have to be…let us say…forcibly evicted." Magna chuckled a low laugh that curdled the blood of every human in the room, and even frightened Damien.

"In laymen's terms, that means we'll have to kill you off. There are enough reploids here to join our cause. Those who won't, we'll destroy. This is Magna Centipede, and in the name of our late Lord Sigma, I claim Cornus Island for the Mavericks." Magna Centipede raised one of his many arms up and waved at the screen before laughing again.

"I hope you all had the time to fill out your wills recently…the incoming bunch is not that friendly. How do I know this? Well…I trained with them. And let's just say, what I would do is a small tremor. He brings on the 9 point Earthquake. Just think about that…while you're being ripped to shreds." Magna Centipede laughed hollowly, a bitter laugh of pure hatred that echoed about the room.

And then he cut his transmission off.

Naismith turned to his bridge crew on the Dino Tank, and even though he tried to hide his own intense fear, he could see it all too clearly on their faces.

They were afraid…as they should be.

They had been caught totally off guard. Infiltrated by the Mavericks…probably months ago…

This attack had been planned out to the smallest detail…

And it meant their deaths.

That was when Damien turned back to his monitor and sighed in defeat.

"Commander, the Maverick Hovercraft docked with the Dino Tank thirty seconds ago. If they've gained total control over our systems…"

"I know, Damien. I know." Naismith replied softly. He stood up to face them all and shook his head. "We will die here…that's a given. But…" Naismith's tired eyes suddenly lit with a burning fire, a hatred of the Mavericks.

"We do need to make an effort to get a distress call out…to the Hunters." Surprised looks addressed his words, and Naismith nodded. 

"You heard me. The Hunters. The GDC can't help us now…only the Hunters have the firepower, mobility, and skills necessary to face these monsters. Damien…I leave this mission to you." Damien blinked in surprise.

"Huh? Why me, sir?" Naismith stared at the reploid with a grim look of determination and trust.

"The rest of us are human…we die much easier. If anyone can escape, it's you. I need you to get outside this damned EM bubble that traitor Magnus has erected over Cornus and get the message out. Besides…those are Mavericks out there, and no one pilots a Landchaser cycle like you can." Damien took in a deep breath and looked into Naismith's eyes.

"Lemme get this straight. You want me to escape from the Dino Tank, avoid the Maverick forces, pilot my way out to the open sea, and try to find some way to power up my comm signal enough to reach the MHHQ?" Damien sighed. "Commander, those are narrow odds." Naismith nodded wearily.

"It's better than staying here. You do that, you'll be killed." Damien looked about himself at all the humans watching him with quiet looks.

They had all accepted their fate…how they would die at the hands of a corrupt reploid today. Yet, they were willing to let him go, to pursue his own freedom…and to get the message out so that this horrible day would not to unnoticed.

Damien finally nodded his head. 

"All right. But I can't get down to the Hangar Bay…That place has to be crawling with Mavericks…" Damien shook his head. "That's damn near suicide." Naismith pointed his finger up to the ceiling. 

"Take the upper escape hatch. I stored my Landchaser there just in case. You should be able to use that." Damien walked up to the command chair that Naismith was sitting in. He stood there for a long moment, then extended his hand.

Naismith took it and the two shook hands for a long, long moment. 

"Commander, it's been a pleasure serving under you." Naismith nodded his head, not bothering to stop the tears that were coming to his eyes.

"Now go. Do it for the world. Tell them…tell them we died with honor." 

Damien quickly turned about from the bridge and jumped up, punching his way through the ceiling grate and climbing his way up the long metallic shaft. This would take him to the air system…from there, a simple matter to burn his way to the outer Hull's scaffolding and find the upper escape hatch. 

He had to do it. 

For them…for those that would die…that had died…today. 

Naismith turned away from the open ceiling air shaft and faced the doorway behind him that led to the Dino Tank's elevator. 

A small plinking sound indicated that someone was coming up the shaft…and that they were only seconds away.

The elevator finally blinked green as the elevator car came to a rest.

The metallic doors were sliced open with a horrific grinding sound…a pair of buzzsaws that sprouted from the doorway with sparks flying in every direction from the blistering slicers.

The doorway crashed in with a final horrific groan, and then the figure in the shaft walked in.

Plodded was a more correct term. He stood slightly hunched over, his short arms ending in metallic claws that dripped with torn wiring and fluid…more than likely, the blood of the humans belowdecks. A wide toothy snout stuck out unnaturally, dripping with more of the same fluid…

Naismith cringed as he saw torn fabric from a GDC worker's shirt stuck in the Maverick's jaw. That fluid was human blood after all. 

"You resemble an alligator." Naismith ventured staunchly, trying to deaden his senses to the carnage he knew would follow. The Maverick chuckled low in his throat and spit out the shirt shred from his mouth. Then he twisted his head slightly to the right and blinked once.

"And you, dear human…you look like lunch."

Gearloose and X sped along the desert dunes as fast as their Landchasers could go, speeding ahead in a mad dash to reach the other Hunters in danger. Along the way, they fired off blast after blast from their nose cannons, aiming them at the closest automated cannons. The once buried turrets exploded in white hot fury, yet all the while those still left continued to pour down heavy fire. 

Both X and Gearloose were darting about between the predictable blast patterns as best they could, knocking out the turrets and all the while getting closer and closer to the Hunters that were pinned down and without transport. 

"Crimineys!" Gearloose muttered under his breath, jumping his cycle in the air for a short hop to avoid a low ground skimming laserburst. X looked over and grimaced, spotting a Hunter.

"Behind, fifty feet, my left. I see one, Gearloose. He'll be cool for now…but if we don't take out those turrets, none of us will survive." Gearloose took a broad visual sweep of the Maverick base and clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

"We don't need to knock them all out…If we can peg out just the cannons along this one path, we can open up a direct shot at that Loading Dock entrance. Once we get there…it's a straight shot into blowing this place sky high."

X examined the options he saw…Gearloose's plan was the accurate one. And considering how this place HAD to be taken down…it was the only one.

"We've got two Landchasers, one very nasty array of guns…and me and you." X said. "And with those narrow odds…it's the best we can do." 

Gearloose and X swung their cycles about, turning them on a direct line for the buried roadway. As they flew underneath the street lights above, X fired off another blast…

Another turret was shattered into sparks. X patched in a comm signal to the stationary Hunters behind them.

"This is Commander X! All remaining Hunters, move in and target the laser turrets able to fire on the buried highway! Once you have that done, retrieve the fallen Hunters and fall back…With any luck, you won't have to make your own assault." 

"Gearloose…with me." X said with a note of finality. "And keep your gun blazing…you'll have to fire enough shots for the both of us." Gearloose sighed.

"Still not willing to pull the trigger, eh X?" X shook his head.

"I've fired off enough tonight…I just want to get home alive." Gearloose and X hit a higher boost of speed from their cycles and pushed on ahead. Weaving and dodging around the shots, Gearloose looked back to X.

"So why is it that the sole surviving Hunter from the First Uprising can't even use his weapon?" Gearloose prodded, hoping to keep X from drifting off into his own world. X didn't look over to Gearloose, but did address the question.

"Because I've killed too many already. Boomer…Flame…Sigma…they all died by my hands, Gearloose. But who I became…was not me. It was a soulless, uncaring killer." Gearloose blinked, shaking his head.

"I don't think so, X."

"Oh? You know who I am? You know me?" X retorted angrily. "Do you think you can reach into my skull and see who I really am?" Gearloose ducked a low blast, then cursed as a laserburst scorched along the outer armor and melted rivulets of metal away.

"X, it doesn't take a rocket scientist. I've seen the old newsreel footage of you from before the Uprising. You were just a timid prototype in a world that your very presence had altered for all time. You knew why the Hunters were there, yet you hated them all the same. You were a pacifist who held the capability for destruction…but never used it." Gearloose pushed his cycle into a jump and avoided a low skimming blast, then fired off his own shot along the same track as the laserburst.

"And do you know what triggered your evolution, X? The death of Cancer." 

X's grip on his bike tightened as much as his jaw.

"What about Cancer?" X replied tersely. But his voice was slightly subdued, and Gearloose knew he had hit the right nerve.

"Because Cancer died, something was triggered. I don't know what he said to you in those final moments…and it's not my place to know…but he did say something, something that changed your perception. You became a Hunter to avenge him. It was a factor of hot blooded revenge that pushed you into being a Hunter. On that same evening, you almost ended the Maverick Uprising then and there…save for Vile." X's eyes kept facing forward, and he saw another blast coming. He jumped that one as well. 

"He was just one of many who died on that day. Why should my reaction to his death be any different than the others who perished?" Gearloose growled into his comm.

"Because he was the first reploid. Because you were close to him. You were like BROTHERS. And now you're just guilty again. Guilty because you think you're a murderer." Gearloose shook his head and weaved his bike left, avoiding another burst of laserfire.

"Murderers kill just to kill, X. the lives you take are ones that have already taken blood of their own. They're the murderers. What you are X, is the lawmen with the big Six Shooter. You stop them…before they can take the lives of more innocents. No one likes doing their job, X. No one. No one likes to think about what they're doing. But we gotta, X. For the generations that follow…We gotta…" Gearloose shook his head.

"X, don't you see?! You have it in you. You can become the Hunter again. Because as you are right now, you're not helping much." X shook his head, blinking fresh tears from his eyes.

"I didn't ask for this, Gearloose. I never asked to be a Hunter." X said finally. "If I wasn't so concerned about saving the others, I'd ship up for home right now." 

Gearloose shook his head, sighing in defeat.

"X, you don't have to agree with me. But I'll bet that if another Hunter died here tonight, you'd snap…and you'd become the Hunter that you're famous for."

The laserfire seemed to intensify at that moment, stopping the conversation short.

The miles ticked down more and more…

X yelped and leaned his body closer to the cycle, trying to flatten himself and make less of a target for the laser turrets. Still, dodging the blasts was no easy matter. 

"X, they've got a JUGGERNAUT guarding the doorway!" Gearloose yowled in shock. "Damn…new model, too. Keep on your toes with the approa…"

That was when a lucky shot connected with Gearloose's cycle in mid-wheelie. X's head swiveled around in surprise, and he saw the Landchaser begin to flash a hot white…a hot white that made it all too clear the thing was going to explode.

"Gearloose, GET OFF! IT'S GONNA BLOW!" Shouted X in a tone of urgency. And then time seemed to slow down immensely for him…

_Noo…Not Gearloose…not him…_

Gearloose blinked once in silent acknowledgement of his fate and lowered his head for a minute.

"I'm sorry, X…There ain't no getting off this train to Clarkesville…" Gearloose began to cough a bit from the smoke, a cough that grew louder…and changed.

X watched in stupefied horror as Maverick Hunter Gearloose threw his head back and let out a long laugh of manic craziness. And then he threw an arm forth and pointed at the Desert Facility…so close…

"In the words of my generation, Mavericks….UP YOOOOUURRRSSS!!!" 

And then the Landchaser blew. 

White hot fusion fury exploded outwards in a five foot wide diameter ball of vaporizing fury. All that was the Landchaser…and all that was Gearloose was incinerated to dust within the hot gas ball.

"GEARLOOSE!" X cried out, reaching an arm to try and grasp the Hunter…

But it was too late.

And then the explosion ceased to be, as quick as it had begun, silenced once more.

And then the horrific realizations crashed down on X, as swift as they had before…so very long ago.

_Another one passes away…because I was not there to save them…_

Cancer…

Zero…

Gearloose…

I…I am not a fighter…I'm not a hero…I'm not a warrior…

I…I…I tried…

Not my fault…It's not my fault…

"It's my fault…" X whispered in a groan. 

__

Thought you could be a Hunter by playing only half the game…

You're no Hunter…

Hunters save the lives of their friends…

Hunters fight off the Mavericks…

The Mavericks…

The enemy…

They killed Cancer…

They destroyed Zero…

They still have Zero…

And they just blew Gearloose to atoms…

Someone must stop them…

They can't go on…

They can't be allowed to force more to die…

Damn them…

DAMN THEM ALL…

The Hunters…

The Hunters will stop them…

I am a Hunter…

I WILL DESTROY THEM.

"I'LL **KILL YOU MONSTERS!**" X finally screamed, a long loud scream that echoed about the desert. His eyes were full of tears, but the wind kept blowing them free from his optics. His hands clenched tighter on the handlegrips of the Landchaser and his mouth clamped into an expression of pure rage.

It didn't matter about his own personal beliefs, his own personal suffering…

X's demons could go to Hell. As long as those Mavericks still existed…More would die.

He could not let that happen. He had swore so long ago to Cancer…He had promised his dying friend that his death would not repeat in others.

X had promised to stop the Mavericks before more lives would be taken.

And now…he had to keep it.

"Gearloose…By Damn, you were right." X choked out angrily, his hot tears being flushed away by the wind. He kicked his cycle into high gear and spun the craft into a wheelie.

The increase in speed pushed him beyond the performance envelope for the Landchaser…no laser turret could track fast enough to land a shot.

X positioned his course right smack towards the Loading dock doorway…and the towering green Juggernaut guarding it.

He released a feral scream, a scream borne out of his own suffering, the suffering of all those under the Mavericks…and the power of Zero and Cancer and Gearloose that they all had instilled in him.

He was Mega Man X.

He was the greatest Hunter.

And tonight, this base was going to be blasted to atoms, whether the Mavericks liked it or not.

And as X's left hand tightened up even more, his optic feedback loop routed a query to the corner of his eye.

_Do you wish to Arm the X-Buster?_

At long last, the Blue Bomber of the 22nd Century knew the answer.

"YES!" Almost instantly, his hand vanished as it was swallowed by a bulbous blue oval at the end of his arm, ending a little shorter than his regular length arm.

The Mark 17 X-Buster. Capable of Level 3 Charge, incredible durability…and a permanent part of X's design.

X let a long laugh emanate from his mouth and echo about the desert.

It carried back to the Hunters, even through the torrential maelstrom of laserfire.

It was not X's laugh.

It was Gearloose's.

The Dino Tank was stationed three miles inland when the Mavericks attacked. Thanks to the actions of that traitor Magnus…no, that MAVERICK Magna Centipede…Cornus Island's defense grid had been caught completely unawares.

And now the Dino Tank was in the hands of the Mavericks. Only Damien had escaped the horrific maw of death that now hung over the greenish juggernaut's hull like an oppressive fog bank.

He shot down the back of the Dino Tank on his probably deceased Commander's Landchaser cycle with as much speed as the Cycle could grant him. He'd even disabled the safeties to boost his speed, yet still the same Damien was cursing the cycle.

"I need more power…need more!!" Damien growled under his breath. Any second now, the Mavericks would gain control of the Dino Tank's self defense grid, and…

Then the laser turrets suddenly came online, their hydraulics moaning as they swiveled about to bear the menacing turrets onto Damien and the Landchaser he rode on. Damien gritted his teeth and cursed, snapping the cycle into a high G escape turn that sent him spiraling through the air and away from the Tank…away from the Mavericks.

His mind didn't freeze up, he wasn't paralyzed with fear, his reploid heart didn't start pounding a hundred beats a minute…Damien didn't have time to do any of that. HE would worry about being killed later.

Survival was his only perogative. And even that came second string to getting the message out…that Cornus Island had been taken over by the Mavericks.

He pulled out of his gut wrenching barrel roll and slammed the repulsors downwards with an extra burst of power, making sure that when he collided with the ground, it was a soft landing, and not one that would damage his Landchaser.

There would be enough damage taken on his getaway, Damien figured. That assumption became all too true when laser blasts and high intensity plasma cannons began to unleash their savage fury behind him, in front of him, and all about.

A laser bolt with a bit more luck than the others found itself slicing clean through his arm. Damien let out a small sharp cry of pain, then gritted his teeth and kicked his Landchaser forward with even more speed, weaving in and out of the firestorm raining down with skill borne partially out of his experience with the cycle, and the rest it coming from his desperation and will to survive.

"Damn…damn those Mavericks!" Damien cursed loudly, relieved at last to vanish out of sight of the Dino Tank's guns and take his cycle into the dense foliage of Cornus Island's jungles. He knew where he was going. The sea.

Two miles.

Damien's trip had been eerily silent for the last mile, and it was beginning to worry him. He reached down and tapped on his Landchaser's scanners, the front end of his Cycle radiating powerful electromagnetic waves that flew about the air in an attempt to seek out unfriendlies.

And then his small LCD screen activated with a calm greenish glow, showing Gearloose a 3-Dimensional view of his surroundings…

There were airborne blips coming down from above.

Fifteen of them. And from the data…Damien cursed, shaking his head.

"I knew it wouldn't be easy…" Damien said wearily. The Dino Tank, albeit immobile for the time being, had had no problems unleashing several robotic flight drones. Suicide bombers, designed to bore into their targets before exploding a small internal charge and scattering horrific shrapnel, destroying, annihilating…Damien wondered what had even possessed the GDC to make that specific robotic device. But as the weapons operator for the Dino Tank, Damien had used that…and more devious tactics in training.

"At least I know how those things fly." Damien glowered. If those Mavericks thought they were going to snuff out the only spark capable of blowing their grand scheme, they had another thing coming. He knew their strengths, their weaknesses, and what situations they failed at.

And he also knew that with fifteen of them, and one of him, and he was still way too far from Magna Centipede's EM signal barrier…

One and a half miles.

The all too familiar whine of the bomber drones came into Damien's audio receptors, and he bared his teeth, tilting his head a bit to get a better view of above. But he didn't need visual confirmation.

The scanner of his Landchaser told him everything he needed to know.

And then the thick foliage above began to rustle, and a group of five dropped through, their thrusters charring branches and leaves in their wake. Damien gripped the handlegrips of his Landchaser tightly, then released his right hand and clenched it into a fist.

Mentally confirming his decision, Damien blinked as he felt the familiar twinge as his hand slipped back into his arm and brought his Buster out to bear. A Mark 17, but Damien had made some slight alterations so the supershot left a fizzling trail of plasma in its wake that could strike foes stupid enough to think the main charge was easily avoided.

"All right, you flying bombs…come to papa!" Damien cried out. He looked down at his LCD scans and saw them coming from behind in tight formation. Without turning around, he contorted his arm completely about and straightened the joint, then unleashed the semi charged green burst, and then several smaller blasts. He gritted his teeth, then began to charge up his Buster all the way. Those flying suicide drones were getting closer…somehow his cycle wasn't going as fast as it could.

But he nodded his head and grinned in small relief as he saw his scanner paste the results of his shooting session.

Two of the five had been blown to pieces. One had decided within its limited robotic brain to head back up with the other 10 and await further instructions, and the other two had been hit with the shots enough to lose flight controls and smash into the trees close by.

Damien knew these forests like the back of his hand, and as he deftly flew about the trees, he thanked whatever deity existed for giving him a fighting chance.

But there were still more there, and he only had his Buster and the Landchaser's nose cannon against the 11 surviving suicide drones. But Damien gritted his teeth.

There was no way he would let despair overtake him.

One mile to go.

"Oh, Sweet Baby Jean…" Damien cursed angrily as he looked at his scanner. He wanted to smash a fist through it for telling him such dismal news…But that wouldn't help.

All 11 had decided somewhere within their minds to attack him as a cohesive team. If taking on five was bad…eleven was near impossible.

Damien knew combat was a futile gesture now. 

There was only escape.

Half a mile to go.

The drones were coming faster now, slowly narrowing the gap between Damien and certain death. The reploid's time was limited…

"DAMN IT ALL…" Damien swore angrily. He shook his head and silently brought up his memorized view of the forest ahead of him. And then he tapped in the commands to forever disable his cycle's safeties.

Hurling the front end of his Landchaser into a wheelie, Damien threw away all vestiges of caution and bared himself fully to the raging speed he needed.

The wind whipped by his face so fast, Damien found it hard to keep his eyes open. Perhaps that was why it wasn't a recommended maneuver. But at least he knew where he was going. 

With as much speed as the Landchaser put out, Damien was pleased to see that the drone bombers were beginning to lose distance from him. He was winning out…

But then Damien blinked, and with ice suddenly shuddering through his veins, he realized that even though he knew his way around this section of Cornus's forest, he had never gone out to the sea by this route.

"Oh, Damn me…" And then Damien's Landchaser Cycle broke free of the dense Cornus Island forest…

And began the long quarter mile drop to the ocean waves below.

Damien's scream was loud as he plummeted downwards, and the incredible forces exerted threatened to rip him free of his cycle. He quickly grabbed the cycle with both hands and held on for dear life, then realized he couldn't slam his legs back onto the Landchaser. 

He'd lost control of his movements.

But thankfully, his Landchaser had not, and when it got close enough to the waves below, it righted itself and automatically kicked in a full repulsor thrust, placing the Landchaser safely onto the waves and shooting him forth…and slamming Damien onto the craft with enough force to knock the wind out of him as the seatpad ground into his pelvic region.

Gasping for air, Damien shook his head and cleared the stars from his eyes.

"Thank God I'm not a human guy…that would have immobilized me."

And he continued to shoot forth away from the island.

Then Damien's Landchaser bleeped with a happy tone. And he smiled.

"I'm out…I'm OUT OF THE BARRIER!" He shook his head. Now that he was out here, those drones would be moving with even more determination…and odds were that the Mavericks would send out whatever else they could find on hand. They might even use the Hovercraft and that heavy cruiser that Magnus showed them on the Central Computer scanners before…

Damien shook his head again, and punched in his comm activation sequence. These Mavericks would not go unnoticed. Not while Damien was still alive. His LCD display switched over from scan mode to Comm mode, and he dialed in the number he was seeking…MHHQ Emergency Alert.

It dialed once and rang a few times…And then someone on the other end picked up.

"Maverick Hunter Headquarters." Damien gritted his teeth.

"This is Lieutenant Damien, Weapons Operator for the GDC Defense Juggernaut Dino Tank on Cornus Island…And we've got a situation!" There was a pause on the other end, and then Damien's Landchaser blinked annoyedly.

The MHHQ operator on the other end of the line was tracing Damien's comm signal. The reploid only blinked once before sighing.

"I know you're tracing the call, Hunter. And you know Goddamn well my location. The open sea just off Cornus Island." The Hunter waited a moment, then grunted.

"Mavericks are attacking Cornus Island? It seems like a wasted gesture. The GDC has that place well guarded, you can't just waltz in there without being noticed!" Damien growled angrily.

"They infiltrated us…A Maverick called Magna Centipede took control of the Central Computer facility! HE DISABLED OUR WARNING SYSTEMS. We had no way to tell they were coming! And now they've taken control of the Dino Tank, AND MORE THAN LIKELY EVERYONE ON IT ASIDE FROM ME IS DEAD!!!" Damien shook his head in disgust.

It was then that the robotic drones began to creep closer and closer, and the familiar whine of their thrusters began to fill Damien's audioreceptors.

"Oh, SHEEEOOOT!" Damien turned around…sure enough, 11 tiny specks of black against the seemingly impossible full moon above were barreling down on top of him.

"Hunter, listen to me and listen good. I have Mavericks out for my head as we speak, so I'm going to do something incredibly stupid. I'm going to leave the commlink open…because you're sure as Hell not going to get any answers calling Cornus direct, because that bastard Magna Centipede put up an EM shield around the ENTIRE FRAGGIN ISLAND. I'm not kidding when I said the Mavericks are in control, Hunter." 

Damien shook his head and sped up his Landchaser, checking his health systems and shaking his head. That shot that blew through his arm had caused more damage than he would have liked, and it was sure not helping him keep attached to the Landchaser too well.

He brought his Landchaser about full tilt and popped another wheelie, angling the nose of his craft so that it pointed up towards the incoming drones.

And with a powerful scream, he began to fire. Both his Landchaser and the X-Buster on his arm began to unleash their fury upon the open skies…and the foes coming towards him.

Six of the eleven suicide bombers blew apart underneath the assault, and Damien looked to see if the commlink was still open.

It was. Those Hunters were getting the full treatment to his struggles.

And then another signal bleeped in. Someone was contacting him. He brought it up, then set it so the Hunters could hear that as well.

Because he knew that there was only one group that would try to contact him.

The ones seeking his death.

"This is Damien. And I say this now…the world will know of your trickery this day, Maverick!" There was low chuckling on the other end of the line before the voice spoke up.

"I'll admit that you're skilled…Damien. But you're up against the elite of the Mavericks…the followers of our deceased Lord Sigma."

"You mean the ruthless killers that now control Cornus?"

"We're not the monsters you make us out to be, reploid." The Maverick chipped tersely. "We will bring unification and freedom to our race, and eliminate the humans that threatened it!"

"And what will you do with me, Maverick?" Damien growled lowly. "I will never join your cause…NEVER!" The voice on the other end of the line began to laugh loudly and roughly, causing Damien to shiver in fear.

Those Mavericks truly were monsters.

"If you shall not join our rallying cause for freedom, reploid…then you shall die!" And just as suddenly as the Maverick comm signal had come in, it ended.

Damien shook his head in fear and spoke up again.

"Did you get that, Hunter?" He waited. No response. Damien frowned. "Hey, MHHQ, you reading me?" He tapped the LCD display of his cycle…and then froze.

The Landchaser was reporting a scrambled comm. Quickly, Damien flipped his scanner back on…

"Oh, Goddamn them…" One of the hovercrafts was coming back from the island, moving at full speed towards Damien. Even worse, it was emanating the jamming signal.

And there was still those five suicide drone bombers after him.

Damien realized then and there…

That he'd done his best to get the word out.

And now the Mavericks wanted him to die.

X leapt from the back of his wheelied Landchaser like he had been born riding the cycle, and then kept hurling forth through the air as the cycle continued on.

The massive green 'Mech guarding the door was struck full on by the rampaging Landchaser, and the resulting explosion took not only X's cycle, but the legs of the 'Mech as well.

But the 'Mech wasn't out completely, and that grated on X's nerves. But in his condition, frenzied beyond all reach of sanity, it put X from full boil to critical mass.

Screaming with the fury of all the innocents ever killed by the Mavericks, X drew his Buster up in a straight line and fired shot after shot until the metallic green 'Mech blew apart in a shower of sparks and melted slag.

And then X calmed down some. But not enough. No, while he had his rage, he was going to walk into this Maverick base and blow everything to shreds along the way. He would make them pay.

For Zero.

For Gearloose.

For Cancer.

For himself.

A rush of power began to flow through X as he walked into the dark confines of the lair, lights flickering and tiny. X began to charge up his Buster, then activated his Dash Thrusters and shot ahead. He leapt up and over a small outcropping that rose up from the floor, then came to a stop on the other side and rolled for a moment, decreasing the stress on his feet.

He froze for a moment as he heard an eerie 'shiink' slide down from behind him. Swiveling about, he found himself staring at a robotic barrier that had just slid down to prevent his exit. X narrowed his eyes and raised his Buster.

It took his Supershot and a lot more smaller bursts, but he did it. The robotic barrier melted and blew apart, and left X with a clear view of the outside once more. 

"Mavericks…Damn them…" X cursed again. 

The rest of the hallway was filled with similar robotic barriers, and even more annoying Scriver, a small robot with a long screwdriver for a snout and hopped about.

Moving down from the hallway and jumping into the production facility, X noted that there was a series of long traps set out with sparking pieces of metal…

But what caught his interest the most was the conveyor belt he found alongside the first trap. Watching with a wary eye, he watched as an illuminated part of the belt rolled out of one mechanical node and into another…and another, as he walked along to view the process.

Each little box node along the belt built a different part of a more and more similar looking robotic drone that X had seen before. Finally, the whole creation ran off the assembly line and activated, rotoring into the air as a fully constructed rotodrone affectionately nicknamed by the Hunters, the 'Scrambler.' It was based off of a similar helodrone from the First Uprising, and valued by the Mavericks for their ability to take more than a lucky shot, as well as their maneuverability.

X shook his head and raised his Buster, firing off another shot. It struck the rotodrone Scrambler dead on and blew it apart in a shower of sparks, and once more X was left in silence.

For good measure he blew the Scrambler construction systems into slag before he moved on, dodging his way around a particularly annoying Mecha-Arm who wanted nothing better than to treat him as a piece of normal metallic garbage and dump him into the pile of sparking wreckage that filled the second trap.

But as he moved along, X noticed two points that left him puzzled.

One, he was still at full health, surprising to say the least considering his was the Maverick Base.

And two, if this was the Maverick Base, where were the Mavericks? So far, he'd only seen robotic sentries and drones…

Where was that one Maverick who had reported in over the comm? And why when he spoke did he tell the other person not to respond, to not reveal himself?

X froze before climbing up a wall ladder to an elevator shaft, his blood curdling.

_No…_

Can't be…

This…but…

Aaw, FRACKIT…

THIS ISN'T THE TRUE MAVERICK BASE!!!

IT'S A DIVERSION!

The other Maverick…the one who didn't answer, THAT'S the real Maverick base…

But if I'm here…

X swore under his breath, shaking his head angrily and trying to clear his hot tears away.

Somewhere else on this world, but not here, those devious Mavericks were cackling on their sinister haunches and pointing with contempt at the all too easily fooled Hunters.

Somewhere on this world, those Mavericks had set up their true base, and set them up to hold this as the diversion…the Maverick's Red Herring. 

And it was those same Mavericks, X was betting, that had their hot little hands on the remains of Zero.

The hot rage reinstilled itself, bubbling from within X like a steaming geyser that threatened to destroy all in sight.

And he screamed. Screamed because now not only had the Mavericks torn away who he was, and destroyed the lives of his friends…

But now they had mocked him. 

It was all too much for X…Too much for the Hunter that should never have been, but nonetheless WAS.

He brought his commlink online and tried to transmit a message to the Hunters outside.

All he got was static. X swore again. The Mavericks had set up an EM shield around this base…he couldn't send a radio call out, and more aggravating, he couldn't warp out.

Which meant that the enraged Mega Man X had one choice. To move on ahead and let the rage subsume everything, let it flow out from him like a dismal fog and poison everything about him.

He would burn off his anger by venting his rage on this base.

And then when he found out where the Mavericks truly were…

Then his head would be on straight. Then he could move with a cool head.

Then when the Mavericks were gone, they'd no longer need him as a Hunter.

And Mega Man X could begin to live again.

Cain had not been the first to hear the news of the traced comm signal from just off of Cornus Island. He had not been the one who examined the conversation with skepticism, before the sound of plasma fire and that vox only Maverick interlink melted away any icy doubts.

Cain HAD been the one whom had been alerted. And likewise, he had been the one who brought the MHHQ on full bore red alert.

Cain had been given the unpleasant task of calling the GDC's main building in Amsterdam and informing them that their prized gem, Cornus Island had been overtaken by Mavericks and that no comm signals were going in or coming out, and the only messenger, a reploid by the name of Damien who was lucky enough to get his Landchaser out of the EM bubble around the island was most likely dead.

Cain had been the one who the GDC had yelled at angrily, and who had the privelege of informing the rest of the Hunters on base that for the time being, the GDC was going to try and save the island themselves.

If the Mavericks had leeched into every aspect of the island, then it was a futile gesture. And Cain had a feeling that the GDC knew it, but they were far too stubborn to admit it.

The GDC was already sending in aerial forces to try and take back the island. And thanks to the wonders of certain Hunters who loved to hack into comm frequencies for fun, everyone crowded in the MHHQ's War Room was now treated to a spectacular sound bite from the hot zone over Cornus.

And from the sound of it, the Mavericks were winning. 

"Green Two, bogey on your six!"

"Brown Five, Triple A, watch yourself!"

"I'm hit! I'm hii.."

"Blast it, there's too much firepower up here!"

"We lost Janssen!"

"Fall back! Fall Baa…" 

Cain shut his eyes and clenched his hands up. It was almost too much to bear, hearing the voices of those GDC Fighter pilots being shot down in the skies above Cornus.

Cain had tried to tell the GDC their huge tactics wouldn't work. They hadn't listened to him. And now because of the gray hairs in charge, these soldiers were DYING…

"Shut it off." James Cain finally grumbled to the technician who had tuned into the GDC Airforce Frequency. The technician blinked for a few moments and stared at Cain in consternation.

"Whaddid you say, boss?" Cain slammed a hand down on his armrest.

"I SAID SHUT IT DOWN!!!" The technician responded within a moment, and silence filled the War Room.

No one talked. No one moved. But they all knew what the others were thinking…because it was exactly what they were thinking.

_The Mavericks have latched onto a powerful stronghold…and the GDC won't let us do our jobs._

Of course, only LISTENING to what those pilots were going through had changed a lot of minds. The false courage had sublimated away, and left the mainly inexperienced caste of Hunters with their tenderfoot fears.

Not a one who had boasted about going to defeat the Mavericks was talking now. And Cain knew it within the core of his being. Some of the Hunters here possessed incredible skills.

None of them had the GRIT. The sheer determination, the will to put a stop to them, no matter what the cost.

Only one Hunter…the Greatest Hunter…had that spark in him. And it had been given to him by Zero.

Cain shut his eyes and tried to forget where he was.

And as he did, he sent out a prayer, a prayer for a person who meant a lot to him.

"Mega Man X…just make it home safely."

Damien knew he would die. He knew that now all too well. Not only did he still battle with the wound in his arm, but now one of the suicide bombers had blown the bottom half of his left leg off. His health meter read at 20%, and there was still four suicide bombers coming after him.

Not to mention that the hovercraft still barreling on towards him was firing all its guns, and pockmarking the waves with steaming clouds of angry vapor.

"Only a matter of time…" Damien slurred. He blinked his eyes and turned his Landchaser into another sweep turn to avoid an incoming burst of plasma. His low power was affecting his speech. More so his thoughts.

That hovercraft posed a threat to anyone who would come charging in here…it had even taken potshots at the jets that came flying in. Of course, it was the Dino Tank inland that had knocked out the majority of the fighters.

That alone confirmed Damien's hopes that the Hunters had rallied the message. He had done his duty…

And now it was time for revenge. He would die anyway. Nowhere he could go within traveling distance could repair him enough to save his life.

"Might as well…lower their numbers." Damien said slowly. He turned his Landchaser from its turn and headed straight for the hovercraft.

Damien leaned his body in on the cycle, avoiding blast after blast of searing plasma energy coming after him. A look at his bike's LCD screen with his failing optics also confirmed what he thought was true.

The other four suicide bombers were still coming on strong. 

A shot of well aimed plasma burned into the nose of his Landchaser, melting away the high strength plastic covering the nose cannon on his cycle. But with one missing leg, a bleeding arm, and optics that were beginning to go blind on him, Damien didn't care.

He steered straight towards the hovercraft and hit the speed boost.

"Time to say your prayers, Mavericks…" Damien slurred one final time. Shortly after that, his body deactivated his voice processors to conserve power.

Just before his Landchaser impacted the Maverick hovercraft, Damien used his only surviving leg at max Dash Boot thrust. He even ignored the safeties on that and half hurled himself free of the cycle, half exploded his good leg off.

But the end result was what Damien was aiming for. His Landchaser slammed into the hovercraft and exploded, tearing open a huge hole in the side of it. The four suicide bombers chasing after the Landchaser also hit the hovercraft and exploded.

Within less than two seconds, the hovercraft was nothing more than atoms and shrapnel.

The horrendous storm of fiery metal flew out in all directions at supersonic speed, and struck down Damien as it shredded into his back.

It severed his spinal column as well…forever paralyzing his limbs. But even as the pain faded away, his neural receptors flickering out one by one, Damien still held the ability to smile.

And he did. He had won a small victory against the Mavericks…he had redeemed himself and avenged the lives of his fellows.

Damien hit the water at max speed, and the friction with the water tore viciously at his face's synthflesh. Battered, beaten, and utterly scrapped, Damien shut his eyes as the cool waters of the Pacific enveloped him. 

He knew it was only a matter of time now.

The water grew colder.

Not long now until his plunging metallic body was crushed underneath the Ocean's intense pressures…

And then all his pain would cease to be.

A stupid robotic drone that resembled the Scrambler had tried to crush X between a pair of malfunctioning hydraulic walls, to no avail. X had jumped up high enough to get a clear shot, and then he'd blown the robotic drone to pieces.

It was a short hop, skip and a jump from the top of the elevator shaft down a long corridor, strangely absent of foes. X kept himself wary as he went along, maintaining a full charge on his Buster. 

By some slight miracle, there was an energy capsule at the end of the corridor, resting on the other side of a long drop down a ventilation shaft. X narrowed his eyes, then plucked the capsule and drained it.

"Down the shaft…like descending into the pits of Hell itself." X shook his head, then checked the charge on his Buster one final time.

It was time to end this. Whoever was down at the other end of the ventilation shaft would find themselves facing one angered Blue Bomber…and the popgun on his arm.

With a cry that would have made Geronimo proud, X plummeted down the shaft, not even bothering to slide down the side by aid of the small wall gripping claws Light had built in his wrist armor.

The rotating gate below at the bottom of the shaft surprised X. He had been expecting a simple wire grate…

The gate meant he was expected.

It opened completely as he fell through, inviting him into the darkness below. And it was darkness. 

X landed into a huge room, on some kind of girder. This he noticed because as he landed, bright blinding lights appeared everywhere about the room, as if this place was designed to be some kind of Coliseum. X narrowed his eyes against the glare and growled, raising his Buster up to strike against any sound.

And then a loud plodding footstep jarred him from his not so stable standing position, and knocked him soundly onto his butt.

"What the…!" X yowled in surprise. His eyes slowly began to adjust to the bright lights, and then he saw what was coming.

It had to be at least forty feet tall from the look of it. The way the light shone off of most of its body, X could tell that it had an outer shell of plasma deflective armor-making it near impossible for X to deal damage to it.

Only its head looked like an inviting target.

Its head flashed their robotic optics with a burst of light only once, before it began to approach him. Its arms were long, conjoined metallic sphere, a design that seemed out of place to the wondering X…

Before it swung a hand up on its flexible limb and slammed him aside, boosting his comparitively smallish blue body into the wall of the arena.

X gasped for air as the blow knocked the wind out of him, and then his body began screaming at him from the pain.

Immense as the pain was, the damage report wasn't too peachy either. Checking the health meter display out of the corner of his eye, X grimaced. He could take maybe three…not more than four hits like that.

The gigantic mechanized terror came closer and closer. X shook off the pain laden stupor he was in and stumbled to his unresponsive feet, growling angrily at his own sluggishness.

He should be able to turn this 'bot into scrap metal without even a hint of damage. After all, it wasn't the Forever Sigma that had nearly taken his life on the night of June 19th. Compared to Sigma's final twisted form, this 'Gigantic Mechaniroid' was like a puppy to a sabertooth tiger.

"I am better than you…" X growled to the monster, dashing out of the way of a powerful leg and foot that came crashing down to earth. Grabbing a hold of the nearest scaffold ladder, X darted up the railing and onto a higher platform.

The monster turned about, swinging its mighty fist in yet another attempt to beat down X. X narrowed his eyes and shook his head, then primed his Buster again. His initial charge was still holding on it.

The fist came swinging in through X's set of scaffolding, breaking it apart with a horrific metallic grinding noise. 

X leapt the fist, then artfully landed on the spherical arm and began a mad dashing run up the extremity, howling his head off.

The Mechaniroid dulled, then brightened its optics in what might have been a substitute for a blink. And as X drew closer, it emanated a surprise grunt and tried to swat X off with its other arm.

All in vain. The Blue Bomber of 21XX would not be so easily knocked loose, not this close to his goal.

X hopped over the incoming limb with all the grace of a practiced ballerina dancer, gyrating his body into a 360 spin frontflip. When he landed again, it was on the Mechaniroid's shoulder. X's eyes went dull for a moment as he raised his Buster.

"This one's for GEARLOOSE!" X shouted angrily, releasing the massive blue supershot. But instead of just the blue, now there was a twinge of angry pink spliced in as well. The Mark 18 must have made some alterations to his original 17's design while X used it.

It flew for the short distance it had to make, then angrily began to eat its way through the softer metallic shell of the robot's head. But it wasn't enough. The robot let out a metallic yell and tried vainly to swing its arm up.

No use. X was in a position its flexible arms COULDN'T reach. His second shot was a midlevel green.

"AND ONE FOR CANCER!!!" X screamed, firing again. More metal burned away. Now there was a clear hole in its armor. One more shot…X shut his eyes and blinked away the hot tears. Once he felt the green level activated, he released his trigger again.

"AND ONE FOR **_ZERO!"_** X screamed finally. 

This time, the plasma tore completely through the metallic shell of the mechaniroid's head and burned into its head's silicon and circuitry.

X leapt off of its shoulders as he suddenly noticed the all too evident white flashing of its entire body…the white flashing that signified its fusion reactor was overloading, and would explode.

And explode it did, hurling chunks of debris in all directions and slamming X against his piece of scaffolding with the powerful airburst.

X shook his helmeted head to try and absolve the pain he was feeling…indescribable pain that had wanted to forget about so very long ago.

But as he lay there on his back, splayed out like a child's gingerbread man, he saw that the Mechaniroid's explosion had been more focused in an upwards direction…

And blown a hole in the roof. X checked his Warp Generator's active scanners.

He could escape.

And as debris of the desert Maverick base…no, TRAP…fell all around him, X shut his eyes wearily and told his Warp Generator to take him home.

X dissolved into a bright beam of blue energy and slightly coalesced particles, and as his beam flew through the hole in the roof, and into the stratosphere of the night, the entire complex blew.

It was a victory for the Hunters…but a victory over a Red Herring.

And if this was just the diversion…

Where were the REAL Mavericks?

By the time X put a definitive stop to the Maverick Base out in the Middle East, the Maverick assault had completed at Cornus. Aside from the rather annoying GDC gnats that kept trying to fly in and take them out, to no avail Serges thought wryly, it had been quiet.

"Magna Centipede, congratulations are to be in order." Agile smiled broadly, displaying his sharp synthteeth for all the world to see. The purple and bluish colored insect Maverick gave a curt nod and clenched his fist up, sniffing disdainfully at the air.

"It still smells like human in here." Serges shrugged.

"Don't worry. As we speak, my floating disinfectant drones are moving about the corridors of our fair Paradise's Computer complex here, spraying everything in sight. Soon, you won't even be able to recall a time where those lousy biologics' smell hung in the air. It'll be Hell trying to get their blood out of the console chairs…Might as well replace the fabric, but it'll work out." Violen sat down on a chair, grinning grimly as reddish liquid oozed out of the fabric's pores and splashed onto the floor with a sickening splat.

"I think it gives the place character myself." Violen said. "So are we completely set up? Is Paradise ours?" Agile brought up a datapadd and punched in a command, bringing up the latest data.

"Only a few rogue GDC survivors left. They're out in the forests. The main complexes and vital strategic areas have all been cleansed and claimed, though. Our remaining six Maverick Generals are setting up shop at their preordained locations. Magna's right where he needs to be…here…and Wheel Gator and his merry bunch are putting the Dino Tank through its paces shooting down the GDC's fighter planes."

Violen yawned and flicked his mace ball tail about a bit.

"In that case, on to more important business. One GDC reploid escaped from Magna Centipede's EM Barrier and spread the word. That's why the GDC's been dinging us with jets." Magna Centipede nodded. 

"Yes, him. I know him. He was Damien…he controlled the weapons on the Dino Tank when he was alive. I didn't get to know him well enough. If it wasn't for the fact we had to destroy him, he could have been one Hell of a Maverick." Violen shrugged.

"He cost us a hovercraft. That's more than enough for me. Let the dead be. But if the word's out that we're here, it means that we can be expecting company soon. Hunters."

Serges cleared his throat and floated over beside Violen on his hoverplatform, making sure to not slam the spikes about its edge into Violen's chair.

"Yes. The Hunters. The EM Barrier that Magna Centipede put up is not a full version. A full version would have caused the Central Computer to go completely berserk and sound every alarm under the sun. He won't be able to get a full version up, either. This means that while communications can't be routed out from the island, warp technology will still function in full. Hunters can come in…and hunters can go out, provided they're reploid, and not human." Serges pulled a remote out and punched a main button. 

The table that Violen, Agile and Serges were standing next to activated, flashing lights and raising a slight podium. Magna Centipede watched the display for a moment, then waved his hand and turned about.

"I'll contact the other Generals for a status report." Serges waved his hand absentmindedly towards the exiting Maverick, then hit another button on his remote.

A bluish holographic ball flashed into existence above the table's central podium, it's holo-emitter. And then the figure of a running, determined Hunter came into view.

"As you all well know, this is the leader of the Hunters. Mega Man X. Known to us as the Damn Lucky idiot. This holoshot was taken of him inside our nice little Red Herring diversion slash trap slash sendoff. By the way, that base is slag." Violen shook his eyes slowly.

"I've seen him work, and believe me when I say, everyone who underestimated him is scrap." Violen watched as the glaring X moved on, his clenched fists swinging aside his lean, yet somehow powerful body. Agile snorted and waved a hand.

"We won't make the same mistake. He may be powerful when he gets riled up, but I'm pretty sure he's still in the dark to what our real mission is." Serges rubbed his chin.

"I'm still holding out he knows more than we give him credit for. But it won't be us he'll be after. When he comes a calling, it'll be to put a stop to the rampage our Mavericks are up to. They should be able to keep him busy until we're running at full steam." Agile blinked softly, then nodded with a firm mouth.

"Yeah. So how's our Internment program coming along?" Serges shrugged.

"Hell, the Collection's done, and the body's in tip top off the press shape. Only problem lies with the control chip…or lack of it, in the case of our Crimson friend." Gile tapped his foot impatiently.

"Time is not something we have, Serges. We must get our plan running. We must hurry…"

When X arrived back at base, Hazil gave him a quick recharge and slapped him on the back grimly. His instructions had been purely Hazilish and simple.

"You're alive, so get your butt out to the War Room. Cain's got some news he wants the Hunter's leaders to hear."

That had been five minutes ago, and now X leaned up against a wall of the War Room as more Hunters piled in. Cain was sitting in his command chair, his white knuckled hands gripping onto the chair's fabric with the tension X knew was inside of him. At last, Cain stood up and the room grew silent. He turned about, leaning on his walking stick for aid as he looked deep into every pair of eyes with a haunting stare.

"Hunters, it seems that the mission to the Middle East Maverick Base…was a ruse. A Red Herring. Trust me, they stuck the pole in the air and we stupidly sat on it, and now we're feeling sore. Now we've got a REAL bad situation on our hands…what we have here…is the SECOND Maverick Uprising." That statement didn't leave the hunters at ease, and there was some shocked muttering before it calmed down again. Cain coughed, then sat down and motioned for the Hunters to look forward at the main viewscreen.

"Here's where the Second Maverick Uprising has occurred." Cain said in a slightly fatigued voice. Pushing a button on the side of his chair, the viewscreen in the War Room lit up and projected a globe: Earth. It rotated about a bit before finally settling on the Pacific and cruising in. X watched with slight interest, more of it annoyed than excited. 

"It's an island, located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean north of Hawaii. Its official name is Cornus, short for Cornucopia." Cain blinked a few times, then hit another button so the holographic image zoomed closer to reveal an odd shaped landmass surrounded by water.

"Cornus Island was born on October 6, 2087, from the same volcanic event that triggered Fuji's eruption...and the subsequent loss of life in Japan. It was that eruption that buried Light's lab, X." Cain said as a brief side note, turning his gaze to the blue Hunter. X curled up his mouth and made a short harrumph as he let his green eyes glaze over. Cain shrugged and continued, although he knew that the comment had struck a chord in X.

"It was originally claimed by the United States, due to its proximity to Hawaii. As a territory, it was developed as a purely Military Base, having little ability to support life. Mostly desert and craggy volcanic mass." Cain coughed for a moment, then hit another button on the side of his chair. The half desert, half volcanic island shifted for a moment to reveal a stunning change, with the presence of towns, lush wildlife, and even processing facilities.

"The GDC was given Cornus Island by the United States as an act of goodwill in the year 2105. Having loftier goals than military supremacy, the GDC managed to terraform the craggy land into a diverse and varied island with multifaceted aspects." Cain frowned. 

"Multifaceted aspects that the Mavericks now have control of." Cain turned about and hit one final button on his chair, bringing up eight red flashing markers dotted about the island. "These eight places represent the greatest danger to Cornus Island, and to the world should the Mavericks find a way to utilize them. From the Massive GDC Defense Dino Tank that the Mavericks have hijacked, to the Energen Crystal Mines in the Southern Quadrant, to the..." Cain's voice trailed off. 

"You get the idea. This is a prized gem for anyone's collection, and the Mavericks have a hold of it. The GDC can't send in troops because the defense forces take them down too fast. Our only hope lies with the Hunters...the REPLOID Hunters. Only their Warp Systems can get them in and out of that hotbed safely. So now we've come to this, people. Either we stop them now...or they win." 

Silence echoed about the War Room. Dead silence. Hunters shifted uneasily, not ready to undertake such a vital...and suicidal...task. 

But one Hunter did. One Hunter among all of them had the spirit and courage to go up against such impossible odds. 

X stepped forth and raised his hand, his green eyes dancing with inborne fire. 

"Cain...I'll go." Cain looked over to X for a long and solemn moment before speaking up.

"I thought you didn't want to fight any more."

"When the Mavericks are dead, Cain…then I'll worry about my pacifistic views. They took the lives of more Hunters in their diversion…and I'll be damned if I let them off the hook."

Every single Hunter in the room knew at that moment that something had changed in X. The morbid, quiet and softspoken X that had the aversion to violence only a few hours ago was not the same X standing here now.

Here was what every Hunter wished they could be.

Here was Mega Man X…the greatest Hunter.

Deep underground, a series of capsules standing 8 by 14 feet stood silently, their tops blinking reddish light that indicated the fusion reactors that gave them power were still working.

They had remained here since they had gone back into hibernation six months ago…since the last time they had been activated. 

These were the buried capsules of Doctor Thomas Xavier Right, the capsules responsible for providing X with his powerful tools of war.

And after a long slumber, they now lit up like christmas trees. Lights along their sides activated, flickering brightly. Sounds of processors and an almost musical harmony of whirrs bounced about.

_Unit 1:Reactivation sequence engaged. User X identified._

_Unit 2: Command acknowledged. User is entering critical situation._

Unit 3: Location identified from user memory. Cornus Island.

Unit 4: Location too distant for drilling. Suggest activation of warp generators for dispersal.

Unit 5: Unit 5 will remain for confirmation of other unit's successful upgrade transfers.

-CONCUR-

The capsules of Thomas X. Light blinked queries and sub-routines for a few more seconds…

And then at last they began to glow, vanishing into azure light as they sped through the soil and rock above, towards the sky…

And towards Cornus Island.

Towards a place the Mavericks had called Paradise.

Mega Man X was going to war once again.

And the Capsules would be waiting for him.


	7. Beasts of Burden

MEGA MAN X: ISLAND OF AWAKENING

**__**

MEGA MAN X: ISLAND OF AWAKENING

By Erico

CHAPTER FIVE: BEASTS OF BURDEN

"So do we have any idea what we should attack first?" X queried. Cain looked down at X before harrumphing and tapping in a keycode. The overhead monitor flashed onwards and brought up map of Cornus Island. Cain's features seemed deepened by the chaos, but he was nonetheless determined.

"At the moment X, any assault on the larger complexes is close to suicide for you. There's only one place I would recommend you take on first…The GDC Dino Tank." X grimaced.

"That thing's armed to the teeth. There's no way I'd be able to get close to it in time to avoid their guns!" Cain shook his head.

"Stop thinking so shortsightedly! You're talking about coming in from a distance. I'm referring to a warp in." X scoffed.

"Cain, unless you have some magical technology that can give me an exact location, we're a little out of luck. That thing is mobile, deadly, and being controlled by Mavericks. That leaves us with three strikes already." Cain shook his head wryly.

"Not quite, X. Hold on, I have a GDC tech on the line." Cain pushed another button on his armrest and then the sound of a vox communication clipped on. "This is Cain at the MHHQ. Go ahead." A little static, then a timid male voice on the other end.

"Hey, great to hear. This is Cassidy Jack at the GDC's Emergency Response Center, and I've got some info that might help you out." Cain nodded, then grunted.

"Cassidy, I'm going to turn you over to Mega Man X. He's the one who will be doing the Dino Tank infiltration." Cassidy's voice betrayed his surprise.

"THE Mega Man X? Woah…Hey you there, dude?" X stepped closer to Cain's chair comm and coughed lightly.

"Yes. Helpful information about the Dino Tank?" Cassidy laughed.

"Consider it your back door, all right? What it is, really, is a little something that the chief designers put in back during early development. It's a cloaked warp transmitter that practically no one knows about. I didn't know about it myself until Faahzid showed up. He was on the Dino Tank's team, you know." X blinked, then nodded his eyes.

"Yes, I recall hearing about him. So how do we use this warp transmitter?" Cassidy grunted for a minute and ruffled some papers on his end of the phone.

"I've got the frequency here…AHA! Yeah, hold on, I'll transmit it to you." The vox clipped off for a moment and then the main viewscreen displayed a series of numbers with dots in between them. X narrowed his eyes and brought up his Warp Generator. Connecting it to his comm, he dialed in the frequency…

And then his optic feedback loop displayed that honestly and truly, there was a place at the Southeast corner of Cornus Island with that warp communications signal.

"I see it, Cassidy." X said in surprise. "That trick worked…it should be no problem for my warp systems to get me there, and even if the thing moves, it just traces the signal!" Cassidy coughed lightly, then shrugged.

"There is one downside, X. It was a one shot deal. Once you use it and successfully land, the warp communicator that you've used will die out. The power supply was completely separate from the rest of the tank."

"Lemme guess. Reasons of security." X grimaced. Cassidy sighed.

"I'm afraid so. X, it's not much, but it's the best we can do. I'm just sorry the rest of the GDC didn't pay more attention to this problem…and now it's too late. Basic surgery won't cut it."

"Cassidy, I know how the joke goes." X said with finality. He activated his warp generator and shut his eyes, beginning the energy transfer.

"That's when you call in the Hunters…Maverick removal specialists."

X vanished from the depths of the MHHQ, flying through ceiling and sky as a bright blue beam of light and molecule sized matter.

Time to take back the island.

When X finally reverted back to his normal form, he took a few moments to blink and clear his vision…and get his bearings.

Which wasn't easy when he was standing in front of an open rear entrance to the Dino Tank as it rolled through the populated district of Cornus with ease, blasting fire every which way and turning the structures into scrap. 

X paused to look down at his feet…and there it was.

"I'll be." X harrumphed. "Those GDC people DO have some smarts. I wonder if my entry has come unnoticed, though…" X shook his head and watched for a few more moments as the small black box that was his entry to the Dino Tank blinked its lights a few last times and finally died out with a whine. "Warp transmitters…only for reploids." X cleared his mind and activated his X-Buster, beginning to charge up a shot as he ran towards the open walkway nearby.

But he had visitors…

Well, more like the welcoming committee, X thought wryly. He recognized them, of course. GDC class missile drones. Of course, it wasn't called that by nickname.

The nickname used was 'Tubamail.' It was a name that would make no sense unless you realized that before the GDC altered their design to be high efficiency trackers with dash thruster rockets and high explosive warheads embedded in their bodies, that they were made to fly small parcels from place to place at high speed. The thing that produced them on board the Dino Tank's various launch points were also GDC class, and were aptly called 'Tubamail Generators.'

Of course, the name wasn't of particular interest to X at the moment, seeing as there were two bearing down on him at the moment at high speeds, and that generator was capable of creating more.

He leveled his Buster at a straight angle and released the level 2 Charge as well as a flurry of followup pelts. Thankfully, the missiles all blew apart under the green burst, letting the pelts fly on and strike the Generator full on. It wasn't enough, though. It took X two more semicharged green bursts to blow through both the newly hatched Tubamails and the Generator itself.

The destruction of the first major threat cleared X a path through the open back gate. So he dashed in.

He still had more in front of him. It may have been a rear entrance that had the ability to protect itself, but the Mavericks weren't stupid. They never were. There were two Tricera Tanks, robotic drones half his height that fired small explosive shots and resembled dinosaurs crawling about on their treads. The Tricera Tanks were a part of the Dino Tank's internal defense systems, no doubt about that. The resemblance to the rest of the rather Paleolithic markup was too strong.

Still, they were durable. Dodging their shots as they rolled closer, X had to slam both of them with fully charged X-Buster shots, level 3 blue balls that somehow carried an edge of hot pink plasma searing behind them.

It was a short hop down the ladder, but X leaped off of it and turned about in midair, seeing another Tricera Tank rolling towards where he would land.

"Not today, drone." X growled angrily. He squeezed the trigger. First, a level 2 green, then the followup pelts. As it blew apart in a shower of sparks and glowing metallic shards, X finally landed.

Ten seconds, and already he'd met three Tricera Tanks. Not exactly a happy sign.

Another short hop down from his new ledge and X was presented with a long hallway. 

"And no enemies for once…" X mused. It was a small matter to dash down the hallway…before he bothered to look up and spied a shaft.

"Whaddo we have for him, Johnny…" He grabbed onto the opposite wall, scampering up the side and using his gauntlet wall gripping claws to hold himself steady. Activating his Dash Thrusters, X readied himself for a dash jump untried since the final hour of the First Maverick Uprising. Unleashing a powerful cry, he flung himself through the air…

And came short. His landing was sturdy, at least. X cursed sourly. He couldn't reach that shaft's upper length, no matter how hard he tried. 

His Dash Thrusters just couldn't give him the power to obtain such a height.

And at that moment, X wished for nothing more than another capsule from his father, one to give him enough power in his boots to blast him up to that shaft.

But he shrugged and moved on. He could always come back to the shaft later. He still had a Maverick General to wipe out.

Wheel Gator sat in the command post of the Dino Tank, annoyedly tapping his metallic claws against the wall and glaring at his monitor. It was currently displaying a live feed from the internal security cameras, and the Australian Maverick didn't like what he was seeing one bit.

"That bugger…Walkin' in here like he owns the place, blowing my forces to kingdom come…" Wheel Gator thought of punching a fist through the viewscreen, but thought better of it. 

He stood up from his crouched sitting position on the floor and waded over to the intercom. He had to wade…he'd lowered the floor and filled the first four feet with rolling dirty water. It was a habit of his to swim about in this layer of invisibility before popping up to swallow foes in his jaws and ripping them apart. His long toothed snout granted him that ability…and by a quirk of his design, he'd also been given the ability to deflect plasma if he was firing plasma bullets from his mouth's plasma turret. 

Foes could try to run away from Wheel Gator…but he'd get them in the end. That was just how he'd been rebuilt…after becoming a Maverick. He frowned.

Who was he before he was a Maverick? Some kind of animalian reploid…more than likely, the same body.

_Jasper…Jasper?_ Wheel Gator savored the sound of the name in his mind. Was that what he was known as before…

He whistled out a short yelp of pain and clutched onto his head, letting go of the thought. And as he did, and resumed his normal thinking of how to destroy the meddlesome Hunter blasting his way through the Dino Tank, the pain faded as well.

"Bloody Hell…" Wheel Gator wheezed slowly. He shook it off and blinked a few times. "Crazy yanks." He turned back to the viewscreen and looked at the bluish Hunter ransacking through the small hallways.

He knew this Hunter. The other seven did as well. All knew about this Hunter.

This was Mega Man X, the 'damned lucky idiot' as Serges was given to calling him, that had somehow managed to destroy Sigma and blow up the Flying Maverick Fortress. X was their greatest enemy, to whom they held the largest grudge.

X represented the core of the Maverick Hunters. If he was eliminated, all the others fell as well.

"Well then, X…Don't keep me waiting long. This aussie's got the need to kick yoah 'ead across the room like a football." Wheel Gator laughed at that. Laughed long and hard.

He switched the main viewscreen to an exterior view. As X battled on, the Dino Tank was rolling through the technological district of Cornus Island…the main region of tall structures one would expect to see in a metropolis like New Tokyo. Most of the humans here were dead by now…which meant that the Tank's main purpose was the destruction of useless, human buildings. The tall ones were the most enjoyable.

If they were strafed right, they'd end up toppling down and crushing smaller buildings by their weight and velocity alone. 

Wheel Gator's laugh vanished. But that toothy smile still remained.

Like the Cheshire cat…

Grinning in the dark.

X had found out the crucial nuances behind running a jet platform early on…being pressure activated, merely stepping on it set the thing off. 

If he hadn't figured it out, it would have meant the end of his mission. Spiked floors were still a danger to robots and reploids alike in this day and age…Go figure. Was it the high powered electricity that ran through them, combined with the puncturing power that opened them up to instantaneous shortout and death that made them such a pain, or were they merely built to annoy everyone possible? 

The welcome party at the other end of the line wasn't exactly too amiable either.

"More like Australian Pygmies at the shoreline throwing spears…According to old movies and books." X noted drily, firing off a small plasma pelt at the first foe in sight.

Unlike the Tricera Tanks from before, these were labeled Disk Boy 08's…a pseudo reploid that had been abandoned after it was adopted by the Mavericks. They were really no better than advanced drones, reploids without higher cognitive functions that held good response time but no ability to divert from a set attack pattern.

Still, they were deadly. The green and blue armored 'roploid' ducked behind its plasma deflective welding shield before pulling it aside to hurl a powerful spiked wheel at X.

The new Blue Bomber jumped his foe's shot and fired off the shot he'd been charging. The level 2 burst hit the shield as the Maverick tried to block it, but this time the shot was strong enough to knock the shield loose and send it spinning into the air above the roploid. X grinned and raised his Buster again as he landed, bearing down on the faceless foe, still trying to locate the spinning aerial piece of metal.

"Don't try to pull that stunt with me, pal." The Disk Boy 08 fell to his Buster as easily as the Tricera Tanks before.

Jumping down to the next level of the seemingly never ending hallway passages, X kept on chugging along. More enemies…more shot…And he was still at one hundred percent health. All in all, a good day. And seeing as none of the foes he'd faced yet were thinking reploids like himself, X had none of the guilt from his actions.

It seemed like a video game, really.

"And just what is reality…" 

One more level down into the depths of grinding machinery. X still felt a slight vibration from the tank's movement, although it was more noise than annoying motion. 

X had to stop himself for a moment after landing at the bottom of the transitional shaft. He could hardly believe what he was seeing. 

Staring him straight in the face was a class 2 Walker Mech…a transitional from the Chimera, its codename was the Kangaroo. Like the original, it had high powered hydraulic struts for legs that allowed it to heave its considerable mass off the ground. It also had high powered rechargeable rockets at the back of its body that gave it dashing abilities, and it was capable of walking on spikes.

New to the Kangaroo, a GDC influenced 'Mech was its two powerful spike laden fists, able to smash through most anything with ease. If the punch control was held, the Kangaroo would gain the ability to unleash a powerful dashing punch that crushed foes even more quickly. In terms of mobility, the Kangaroo also carried a revolutionary jetpack based off of its rear thruster design that granted it temporary airborne capabilities. Temporary being the key word…X's research on it showed that GDC initial tests said quite clearly holding the hover controls for more than five seconds resulted in mass overheating of the thruster power coils…

A process that inevitably made the entire assembly blow up in flames.

Maneuverability, power, and stupefying defense, the Kangaroo was the latest in combat technology that turned a lone warrior into a powerhouse able to wipe out entire hordes of Mavericks…

"Or Hunters, as the case here would indicate." X grumbled. Zero had managed to uncover a crucial flaw in the arm joint of the original Chimera Mechs…a flaw that had ended up saving X's life on the night of June 4th, 2118. It was doubtful that same flaw still existed in this new Kangaroo Mech. "Well, guess what Mavericks. You're about to learn a crucial lesson today. If you don't put your toys away…" X hopped into the cockpit and booted the systems up. The stationary mass of metal raised itself up from the ground, standing tall as the hydraulics kicked in. X tested a quick punch, then grinned and finished his sentence.

"Someone might steal them from you."

He was located at a dead end of sorts…there was a wall facing him with a small door on the bottom of the bulkhead, leading to whatever was behind the massive armored structure. Something on the other side was well protected…and X wanted to know what before he started punching crazily.

Luckily for him, the Kangaroo's onboard computer held a map of the Dino Tank's internal structures. Tapping in a query for his own location, he cross referenced it with the main schematic.

"So…You're not too far from home, are you boy?" X grinned and tapped the windshield with a free hand. It was safe to punch through the armored wall…nothing explosive behind it. Just a Mech bunker. "All right then, you dog. Let's test your BITE!"

He held down the punch toggle on the right arm switch, gritting his teeth and hoping that the 'Mech wouldn't blow up on him.

And somehow, it didn't. The legs lowered down, and the right arm pulled back, the spike laden fist beginning to spin at high speed. X gave a short nod of his head, released the switch…

And barely managed to keep seated as the entire Kangaroo jumped forth, seeming to scream a warcry from its dash thrusters. The hydraulic arm lunged forth, the spiked fist slamming into the metal bulkhead and squealing. 

The sparks flew back at X and showered the windshield with brilliant flashing intensity. It was the noise itself that made X clamp his eyes shut and grit his teeth.

Like fingernails on a chalkboard, the sound was incredibly aggravating, even to a reploid's audio receptors.

The wall vanished at last, torn down by a superior force. X had to wait a few moments for the smoke to clear before he could look inside clearly.

And sure enough, the Kangaroo's map uplink was right. It was a bunker full of Kangaroo Mechs. X whistled in surprise for a few moments, then marched his own 'Mech forward.

He didn't expect to fall a good distance because of a nonexistent floor. But he did anyway, landing solidly on a five foot wide walkway that was connected to the side of the Dino Tank. It was most definitely stable to hold both him and the Kangaroo, X noted in relief. But that did little to help calm his nerves. He could look out and see the Dino Tank rolling through the city, its plasma guns firing away at everything in sight and turning the small metropolis of Cornus Island's populated district into slag, rubble and smoke. 

"Those Mavericks have had it." X growled. "Thinking they can get away with destroying an entire city…"

It wouldn't be the first time, either. Back during the First Uprising, both he and Zero had gone off to settle the score with Boomer Kuwanger and the menacing Plasmic Cannon he'd set up on top of Karashita Tower in New Tokyo.

But this…

This was destruction on a far more crude and violent scale.

And then X heard the whine of rocket thrusters coming closer and closer. Turning his Kangaroo forward, he spied another Kangaroo charging at him…a true Maverick at the controls.

"So, it's a jousting match then…" X said softly. The edge of sarcasm dripped into his voice even as he tightened his gloved grip on the controls. And then the look of pure anger filled his face again.

The Hunter…Had returned.

"I've got fresh cinnamon buns…COME AND GET SOME!" X screamed at the top of his lungs. He lunged his own Kangaroo down the walkway rigging with a long powerful burst of thrusters. And he primed both arms for power punches.

His scream was loud…

It had to be.

He was screaming for four people. Himself, Zero, Cancer, and Gearloose.

All had reason to yell at the Mavericks.

The walkway had at least two Kangaroo Mechs that X had to slam through. Obviously, the Mavericks controlling them had yet to fully understand the controls and full extent of abilities with them, but X had no such shortcomings.

The walkway had contained one massive hole in it that could have meant certain doom for X, had he not tested the jump and hover capabilities of his Mech. That aloned had saved him, however the Maverick Mech tailing him ended up falling through the hole and falling countless meters to the ground below. X winced as he heard the crumpling thud. Not even a Kangaroo could survive that much of a fall, it seemed.

The walkway led to a tapered end, with a ladder and a hatch above it. X narrowed his eyes.

The ride was over, it seemed. He shut down the Kangaroo Mech and leapt free from its cockpit, landing lightly on the metallic surface and climbing up the large steps to the ladder. It was a short climb, but pushing the hatch open was a task that made it a bit longer.

"This isn't kosher GDC…" X grumbled, taking a look behind him as he shut the hatch again. A massive spiked metallic ledge jutted out from the smooth bulkhead wall, a glistening Heart Tank sitting unused on top of it. X rubbed his chin and measured the height.

Although that tiny little treasure could come in handy later, X couldn't make the jump to it, no matter how much force he put into it…not without smashing into the spiked wall beneath it and killing himself.

"So now I've got that vertical passageway AND this Heart Tank to worry about later." X mused. 

**_"I'm glad to see you're so bloody concerned about what you'll be doing tomorrow…it shows you at least have some hope you'll survive, yank."_** X halted in midstep and turned his head up to the ceiling, where a speaker was emanating the noise.

"Come again?" X said warily. The voice cackled, carrying undertones of a throaty deep voice synthesizer alongside the Australian accent.

**_"But that hope won't keep you afloat in my Barrier Reef, X. This Dino Tank may seem like a walk in the park, but you've yet to reach the real trials."_** X took a step forth, unleashing a shot and plowing the shield free from a Disk Boy still far off.

"And you've got quite a lot of spunk to be speaking in that tone of voice…MAVERICK." The voice chuckled even louder at that.

**_"Oh, you've got me pegged all right. Yeah, I'm the resident Maverick here…my name's Wheel Gator, the nastiest Aussie this side of the Equator."_**

"And you're killing innocent people for your twisted cause. Sigma's DEAD, Maverick. I don't understand why you still follow in his footsteps."

**_"Sigma's DEAD because YOU killed him, you damned lucky idiot."_** Gator growled sullenly. **_"We follow his example because it's been proven humanity will never accept us as equals."_**

"Stuff it." X shot back hotly. "I've heard the same garbage from those who came before you. And back then, it was from reploids I knew before they changed sides. Your sad devotion to Sigma's twisted vision can mean only one thing…your demise."

**_"Oh, yes."_** Wheel Gator spat back eerily. **_"Mega Man X, the lapdog of humanity's whims, both father and Grim Reaper to the race his mere existence is responsible for."_**

"I don't deny you exist because my plans were integrated into a new race." X replied, blasting the Disk Boy to atoms with a supershot and several followup pelts. "But don't you dare assume for even a microsecond I am a Hunter because HUMANS asked me to be. My decision to be a Hunter came from a request to be such…BY A REPLOID. I am a Hunter because I avenge the innocent lives you and your sick cause continues to take for your supposed 'freedom rebellion.' I am no one's lap dog." He stared up at the ceiling, at last finding a camera. He glared at it, knowing full well this Wheel Gator was watching him. The wall speaker finally barked back at him.

**_"It's all talk, isn't it?"_** Wheel Gator snarled. **_"I'll tell you what. You'll eventually find your way to the control room. When you do, come see me. Words aren't what I use to solve problems."_** X primed his Buster again, hopping up to the small ledge where the Disk Boy had perched.

"Oh, I'll be there." X glowered. "You just be sure when I arrive, you have your coffin primed…because you're dead in my eyes already."

**__**

"Odd…you've never even seen me." Wheel Gator said easily.

"I don't need to see you." X replied easily. "I can smell the stink from here, Maverick."

The intercomm shut off with an audible slam. X allowed himself a small grin.

He wasn't going to let the Mavericks get the better of him.

This guy was pave dirt.

Hazil rolled into the War Room of the MHHQ, his chest compartment holding several canisters of sports drinks. The weary faces about it seemed to indicate a general attitude that was not one specific emotion, but a twisted amalgamation.

Of outrage. Purpose. Concentration. Defiance. Fatigue. Anger. 

He shook his head.

"Hell, all I ever needed was a grumpy go lucky attitude and a keg of German Lager." Cain seemed to be suffering the most, for unlike the other, mainly reploid members of the MHHQ War Room crew, he was human.

And old. That was three strikes against him. It didn't help he was the one who had been forced to keep himself awake longer than usual to coordinate GDC cooperative efforts. 

"Hey Cain, I got a can of wakeup juice here." Cain withdrew his face from his wrinkled leathery hands and peered at Hazil for a long drowsy moment. He blinked his aged gray eyes and leaned back into his padded chair, sighing.

"Jolt cola?" Hazil snorted unhappily for a moment.

"Hey, no way pal. At your age, that stuff could kill you!" Cain let his eyes twinkle for a moment.

"Forgive me if it keeps me awake." Hazil sighed and opened up his chest cavity, pulling out a cylindrical flask and placing it in front of Cain's motionless hands.

"Not Jolt. Caffeinated tea. Lowcaf."

"Madagascar Vanilla?"

"Of course. Brewed it up special just for you. And at this time of night, a far more viable option than spinach artichoke dip." 

"I'm just worried." Cain replied raggedly, flipping the lid on the canister and taking a deep drink of the cold sweet tea. Hazil shut his chest compartment and folded his arms.

"About X?" Cain nodded. Hazil motioned to Cain to come down from the post. "Come on…let's take a walk." 

"To where?"

"Your office. You need some snooze time."

"It can wait."

"Horse hockey, doc." Hazil glared. "I'm the Chief Medical Officer here. And I've got the following questions for you. Are you a reploid?"

"No."

"Have you been on your feet most of the day?"

"Yes."

"How long has X been gone?"

"Forty five minutes."

"THEN YOU'RE GONNA CALL IT A NIGHT." Hazil finished sternly, whistling over to a tech listening in on the GDC broadcasts. The young female human, Asian appropriately enough turned her head. Hazil motioned to Cain.

"Doctor's orders…Cain's gonna get some Z's. Take over command, will ya?" the woman smiled a bit and nodded her head. Hazil grinned at Cain and handed the archaeologist his walking stick.

"There, you see doc? This place CAN RUN without you playing daddy." Cain fumbled with a comeback.

"But…but I…aaw, frackit all. FINE." James Cain grasped onto the wooden stick and slammed its rubber tipped end onto the floor, pulling himself free of the command chair and easing himself onto the bulkhead floor with Hazil's help.

The Asian woman eased herself into Cain's chair, then set to work re-routing her console's information to the sidescreen of the seat. Cain lingered his backwards glance, then finally sighed and turned around, resigning himself to being led away from the bustling room of electronics by the Hunter's Chief Medical Officer.

The hydraulic doors hissed open, and Cain and Hazil slipped through into the left entrance to the round robin hallways of the MHHQ. Cain's office was close, but his plodding, jerky pace caused by his stick made the walk longer than usual. Hazil just compensated by slowing his tread speed.

"Cain, you shouldn't worry about X." Hazil said dolefully. "The guy's faced worse odds…and he came back alive then."

"Are you talking about the final attack on Sigma six months ago?"

"One and the same."

"Yes, I'll agree with you that was bad…but you're forgetting X had an incredible suit of armor that enhanced every part of his systems then. His Buster could shoot a hole through a mountain, his helmet could slam through rubble, and his body armor made him almost as impenetrable as a third generation hovertank. And he still came back from it thrashed and covered in his own blood." 

"And what's different now?"

"He has no suit. He left it behind…he's on his own again. And unless Light bestows upon X some early Christmas presents…" Cain shook his head. "Hazil, he's just one Hunter. There's no telling just HOW powerful those Mavericks are now. What if the First Uprising was just…" He ended his sentence before he could finish it. But Hazil patted him on the back, knowing full well what he meant.

_What if the First Uprising was just the icing on the cake…_

"X will come back alive." Hazil said firmly. "He's not one to go dying on us." Hazil halted the good doctor and opened up the hydraulic door on their left.

The door to Cain's office. It hissed apart in small protest, then fell silent as the opening parted completely. Inside, soft blue lights bathed the room with an ethereal glow that gave it all a mystical gleam…like reality seemed to shift and quiver unsurely inside the door.

Hazil led Cain over and gently sat the good doctor on his reclining chair, propping his weary legs up on the popup footrest. 

"Just take it easy, Cain. You know X better than any of us…and somewhere inside that cracked cranium of yours, you should realize he'll live. He's X…And more than that, he's a Mega Man. And the Mega Men never passed away under the spotlight of a new Robot Rebellion…or Maverick Uprising. If he was going to buy the farm, it would have happened early on in the First. This is the second, and he's still ticking. I'd bet my control chip on it that as we speak he's turning all those Mavericks inside the Dino Tank to scrap." Cain yawned for a moment, and Hazil turned the room lights down even more.

"You know what Cain…" Hazil froze and wheeled himself about to look at the doctor.

Incredulously, he watched as Cain began to softly snore…passed away at least to the blissful realm of REM dozing. Hazil's mouth twinged with a bit of a smile.

"That's the spirit, doc. Don't worry about X. He'll handle himself." Hazil wheeled towards the hydraulic door and slipped outside, the door hissing shut behind him and enveloping the archaeologist in a layer of quiet sounds and dimmed lights.

And then Hazil's smile vanished. There was still another key player that Cain had forgotten to mention.

"I just hope those Mavericks haven't reconstructed Zero yet. The last thing X needs is to face up against his friend."

X had at last managed to climb his way free of the belly of the beast. It had taken him a while, riding up long elevator passages lined with spikes and even more aggravating Disk Boys. X had finally given up in desperation and ended dragging their metallic carcasses against the wall, watching grimly as they were chewed up by the sharp electrically charged tines.

And then there was the fun session he'd had crossing over a bunch of high powered energy conduits, to which falling would mean certain doom. A rickety thruster elevator was not prime transportation over such areas…especially when internal Tubamails were constantly trying to jar him off his small safe haven.

As he dash jumped down the long front facing hull of the Dino Tank, X knew that his odds of survival out here were considerably less. Tubamail Generators dotted the outer hull of the behemoth like zits on a teenager. And they were beginning to pop…

"Griddle caked sausages…" X wheezed in disbelief. He shook his head and primed his Buster, hearing the familiar whine as the charge powered up from green 2 to blue 3. A pair of Tubamails flew up towards him, tracing his moves. X narrowed his eyes, corkscrewing his body and flipping through the air like an inverted top, minimizing his body's surface area.

"Yeah, you just try nailing me with that move, ya twerps…" He stabilized himself after the two missiles flew past harmlessly. Landing directly beside the Tubamail Generator they'd come from, he whistled and danced about it for a moment.

Sure enough, the speedy missiles turned about easily, boosting full thrust down towards him. X narrowed his eyes, calculating their speed mentally. "Just a little more…a little more…"

He jumped aside at the last moment, fueled by a huge boost of thrusters that sent him sprawling backwards. The Generator blew apart easily, spattered and sprayed by the Tubamail's shrapnel charges. X shook his head as the impact threw him down farther along the hull, then twisted himself in midair and landed easily.

"Well, that's like nailing a pig with a potsticker." He grumbled. There were still far too many Tubamail Generators dotted about the hull to take out. That tactic may have worked on one, but with the numerous ones about, there was no way.

So X chose the more viable option. To flee. And going back the way he came wouldn't do squat…so it meant he was charging down towards the Dino Tank's front entrance like Gangbusters. 

"He who hesitates is lost…" X quipped, noting dutifully that was exactly what his older brother's Archrival Bass had said to the Blue Bomber at the end of the 7th Robot Rebellion.

Another huge dash jump and X cleared the last diagonal slab of hull…

And landed right in front of his entrance. Surprisingly, it was open, which by all rights it shouldn't have been.

But then again, Wheel Gator lay not far beyond it. X had seen this before.

An open invitation to the 21XX Blue Bomber to face against a Maverick…

To win…or die.

Either way, his foes always made a conclusion. And the Tubamails behind him were convincing enough to cause X to dash into the structure. The Tubamails veered away at the last moment, and X realized that they'd been purposefully channeling him into the entrance…like herding sheep.

Shaking the foreboding free, X hopped up and grabbed ahold of an energy capsule left out in the open, then peered down the final broken elevator shaft. He narrowed his eyes…

There was one final guardian Wheel Gator had left for X…a massive green metallic behemoth with 2 explosive cannons in its upper torso. And X had seen this kind of Warmech before.

He'd seen it at the Maverick's Red Herring. That time he'd slammed his Landchaser into it and plugged it full of plasma holes. This time it'd be a bit different than before…seeing as he had no Landchaser.

He did have a height advantage on it, though. And just maybe…

X squeezed off his supershot, watching with grim satisfaction as the plasma sizzled through the air and burned through the stumpy legs of the Mech. Crippled, the metal groaned and snapped, sending the menacing top half of the Mech clattering to the floor. Its cannons turned away from him, X hopped down the shaft and finished pumping the danger with smaller pelts of plasma that finally turned it into slag.

And then there was the rotating doorway…

Wheel Gator lay just beyond. X checked his energy…full health still, drew in a sharp breath and hopped over the mess of Mech standing in his way. Touching the responsive metal surface, X slipped through the rotating gate and began to charge up his Buster again.

"All right, Maverick. Let's see what you bring to the party."

X stepped through the second rotating hatch and fell for a moment in surprise. Then his feet settled into a brownish muck with a particular squishing sound and he balanced out. 

This was the Dino Tank's control room…and it appeared most of the consoles were missing, torn off and thrown out like garbage. Even as X looked about, he could see that the main viewscreen on the wall to his left was active, about the only light active in the room, and showing a continual picture of outside. Of the Dino Tank rolling about the city, tearing it apart…

And then came the laughing. X steadied himself, holding his Buster at the ready and stabilizing it with his right arm.

A green metallic figure who had been completely immersed in the muck pulled itself free with a thick splashing sound. Its tail wagged back and forth easily, and it seemed slightly hunched over even as it stood at full height. The claws glimmered in the dim lights like deadly quills on a porcupine, and the shoulder applets of the figure seemed to be laden with a roll of circular spikes. Intimidation, perhaps.

But it was the long reptilian snout, the toothy sadistic grin as it laughed, and the dancing eyes far back into its head that caused X to immediately identify the figure.

Wheel Gator…the Maverick General in charge of the Dino Tank. 

"So you made it, eh?" The reptilian Maverick snarled. X merely watched on with his cold blue green eyes and nodded. Wheel Gator flexed a powerful hand and pointed with his fist at the viewscreen.

"You see that, X? You can't stop that. This island belongs to the Mavericks now. Cornus Island is ours to launch a revolution from. OURS!"

"Oh? Then what am I doing here?" X replied. Wheel Gator shrugged.

"That I've yet to figure out, mate. Signing your death warrant, I suppose."

"You're not the first Maverick I've faced up against." X ventured easily.

"Yeah…but I'm the first you've faced without your blasted super armor." Wheel Gator snapped back with a vicious gleam in his eye. "Without it, you're as weak as a newborn koala." 

"Did you ever hear the saying, a snake sheds its skin to grow stronger?" X barked tersely. "Through it all, the armor was just a tool. The hand still existed…ME."

"The hand of the humans?" Wheel Gator said drily. X shook his head and raised up his Buster.

"No. The hand of vengeance for all the innocents killed." And he fired.

Wheel Gator dove back into the muck and ducked the blue supershot X sent flying across the room. The bulkhead wall absorbed the shot and crackled hotly as it glowed red, then dimmed back down to its normal dull gray.

X narrowed his eyes, letting his Buster charge back up.

"Now where did you go…" X growled lowly. 

A pair of snapping jaws leaping up from the muck and wrapping about his midsection answered the question succinctly. X gasped in pain as sharp metallic teeth bit through his armor, being flung up into the air as a rag doll in the mouth of his foe.

And then Wheel Gator chuckled…and chewed. His serrated teeth sawed back and forth, grinding through the normal blue armor of X and slowly causing red streams of reploid blood to leak out…taking his vitality with him.

And then Wheel Gator flung X across the room with ease, grinning devilishly as the sickening crunch of metal against metal combined with the pained groan of his foe.

"Bloody Hell. Here I thought they were sending the greatest Hunter against me, and I find out Serge's explanation still works. You were just a damn lucky idiot, X. A damned lucky idiot who took out Sigma because of a crazy twist of fate."

X's body was screaming at him now, a clear robotic voice against his own thoughts.

**_Internal damage severe. Internal operations energy now stabilized at 62%._**

Impossible…I can't…lose…

At least the bleeding had stopped. But his armor was slagged, and couldn't be repaired until he got back to base. 

But he couldn't escape. Not while Wheel Gator was still alive and controlling the Dino Tank.

"Are you dying on me that easily?" Wheel Gator chuckled lowly. X turned his head to see Wheel Gator take an odd stance at the opposite side of the room, arcing his head and shoulders forth and pulling his arms behind him. "If that's the case, I might as well put you out of your misery. My friend Morph will love having another junked reploid to work with…"

Wheel Gator's shoulder blades suddenly glowed green and expanded outwards in size…

They were more than decoration. Those were synthesizing modules.

X gritted his teeth past the pain that shot through every nerve of his robotic body and stood up, turning around to face down Wheel Gator. 

And then the Maverick's shoulder blades began to fire. Bouncing, spinning buzzing killsaws with only X's destruction on their minds. But their bouncing held a pattern, and that was something X would use to his advantage.

Mustering his concentration, he dashed underneath the first wheel and gauged the second's approach. He paused, then dashed on ahead and performed a gut wrenching roll that made him wince from his screaming wounds. But it got the necessary result.

X was free from the grinding storm of blades that now echoed behind him, and a surprised Wheel Gator stood defenseless in front of him. X bared a wry grin and raised his Buster.

"Want fries with that?!" He fired. The blue supershot struck Wheel Gator's thick metallic hide and fizzled about angrily, dispersing after applying an initial burst of supercharged heat that distorted the armor and damaged the Maverick. But X didn't stop, unleashing even more smaller plasma shots at the damaged area. The metallic chest piece glowed hotter and hotter, and screaming in pain and outrage, Wheel Gator swiveled his body around and ducked back into the muck.

X narrowly avoided being swatted aside like a flea by the Maverick's massive tail by backflipping away. 

But now he knew standing in the muck was a dangerous move. So hoping that Wheel Gator was still swimming about in the corner he'd slipped into, X turned his body around and dashed like mad, ending it with a superhuman leap that left him hanging from the opposite wall by his right hand's gauntlet wall claws. His left hand was still formed into a Buster, charging up for another shot.

It was the splashing noise from below that alerted X something odd was up. Hoping dearly it wasn't Wheel Gator trying to achieve another airborne interception, X took a desperate wall jump and hurtled himself free of the metallic surface.

As he turned and looked behind him, he realized with stunned surprise that it was only another high revolution killsaw from Wheel Gator's shoulders. A second one splashed out of the muck directly below X, going in the direction X was jumping. X used a small boot thrust to slow his forward movement and avoid the saw…

And then in surprise he realized that was EXACTLY how he'd set up a kill. Use shots to distract an opponent and corral them into one set area…

And then tear them apart.

"Oh, no you don't…" X wheezed. He may have been hurting, but he still had his brainpower working for him. There was no way he'd let Wheel Gator…a mere Maverick General and a step below Sigma…get the better of him.

He whipped his Buster groundwards, and sure enough, there was Wheel Gator using his powerful rear legs to leap up into the air and claim him with an open mouth.

X unleashed his shot, making sure he knew exactly what he was targeting. The hot plasma green shot flew, directly down Wheel Gator's throat.

It struck something cylindrical at the base of his mouth, something which resembled to X a kind of smaller plasma cannon. Whatever it hit was definitely not built to take the kind of abuse a Mark 17 Mega Buster could dish out. It melted apart instantly under the intense heat and caused Wheel Gator to cough out hot metallic phlegm while ceasing his attack to turn about and dive back into his liquid.

A short time later he re-emerged, standing a ways apart from the now grounded X. Yet there was a completely different gleam in his eye…like all rational thought had vanished. 

He'd seen it before. When Spark Mandrill had been crucially wounded in the First Uprising, he'd come at X with a speed and power unmatched. And there had been an aspect of pure animalian rage behind it as well. It had frightened X then.

It only made him wary now. Wheel Gator coughed once and spoke up.

__

"Not bad, X. A damned lucky shot for a damned lucky idiot." The unnatural warbling in the voice had to come from a shot voice synthesizer.

"It looks like I hit more than that plasma cannon in your throat." X said drily. Even as he spoke, he was charging up another shot. Wheel Gator swished his tail back and forth angrily for a few moments before growling and shaking a fist at X.

_"You can eliminate the smugness now. You're dead. DEAD!"_ Wheel Gator hopped up into the air for a moment, then seemed to straighten out into a sort of dart.

The move caught X off guard for a moment as he looked on in surprise…

And then powerful thrusters in the bottom of Wheel Gator's hulking feet activated, shoving him forth in a high powered corkscrew of flashing metal.

_"Taaste the blade of death, X!"_ The Maverick warbled angrily. The new Blue Bomber let his eyes widen in surprise, then reacting in pure desperation, turned about and made a mad dash jump at the opposite wall. Slamming into it, X wasted no time in hopping up a few more feet and leaping off again.

Only feet below the soaring X, a dash powered Wheel Gator crushed into the wall, chewing it apart with high pitched squealing…the sound of metal being twisted and battered by an inhuman force.

X braced his ears against the horrendous noise and leveled his Buster at the now primed Maverick. Wheel Gator's assault concluded, he landed down, wondering where X was, and voicing as much.

_"Show yourself, you coward…"_

When the hot plasma began to burn away at his tail armor, Wheel Gator knew where X was. He swiveled about and screamed in rage, then twisted into another corkscrew slam across the room.

This one caught X in the furious tornado. The edge of it, at least…enough to slam X backwards and make him crash into the wall with a sickening crunch. 

When he came falling down from the immense blow, he was caught easily by a wheezing, breathing figure with a large clawed hand that wrapped about his throat and began to choke off his brain's blood supply.

_"Oh, you…you're a spry one, X…But that won't save you now."_ X could barely emanate any sound at all, so tight was the grip of the Maverick. The Hunter's eyes began to roll shut, blaring warnings as the highly advanced power system…X's bloodstream…lost pressure and energy carrying nanobots.

_"How does it feel, X? To know that despite all your best efforts, you will die?"_ X wheezed for a few moments, shouting at his optics to keep working for only a little longer.

And then he saw where he was located. It was a good position, if he could somehow force Wheel Gator back a ways…the target was dead on accurate.

"Gator…" X whispered tightly. The Maverick brought X lower…brought his feet lower against the surface of the floor below. X disabled the safeties on his Dash Thrusters, bringing their power and fuel consumption to max. If he did this right, it'd only take 2 seconds at most. If he failed, there was no sense in keeping his boots in safe mode.

"One…last…thing…" X spoke haltingly against the darkness that now closed in on him. Wheel Gator snapped his jaws and rolled an eye.

_"What, X?"_

"If I go down…I'm taking…YOU WITH ME!" Wheel Gator blinked in confusion once…

Time enough for X to lift his legs up and activate his thrusters.

With a massive burst of flames, X's body was shot forth. Wheel Gator, still holding onto X also was pushed by the intense force of thrust.

Through the muck they slid until Wheel Gator's legs slammed against the upraised metallic floor that had once been the command chair of the Dino Tank. Losing his balance, the Maverick released X and began to flail his arms about in shock.

Lowering the force somewhat, X finished the dash move with a rotating frontflip, making sure to grab onto Wheel Gator's wrists with his white gloved hands.

When X landed back into the mud, his throat blood vessels had released their precious energy carrying contents into his mind. Invigoration restored, X let loose a feral scream…

And with strength superhuman, hurled the captive Maverick forth into the air, using as much of his own kinetic energy alongside that his arms could muster.

Wheel Gator went flying, screaming a cry of intense anger at X…

Until he crashed tailfirst into the viewscreen, shattering the crystalline display and unleashing the ravaging energies behind the barrier into his tail. The armor melted away, the wiring exposed, Wheel Gator was the prime target for the unleashed demon.

It seemed like the entire Dino Tank itself was shunning its Maverick master as tendrils of bluish electrical energy flared about the Maverick, screaming and writhing under the intense forces.

And thankfully…decently…Wheel Gator finally slumped to the ground. Burned from the inside out, his every neural pathway and circuit fried beyond salvation. His eyelids came crashing down.

And then there was silence. 

X fought the urge to collapse as well, despite what his body was saying.

**_Internal operations energy at 14%. Seek immediate medical attention._**

"Later." The new Blue Bomber said wearily. First things first. He walked over to the one surviving console left in the control room and tapped its power on.

It took approximately 45 seconds for X to put an EM shield around the Dino Tank to prevent all warp signatures from coming or going…aside from his own, of course. He also re-directed the Tank to stop moving, and to only fire at Maverick forces and leave incoming GDC fighters alone.

The Mavericks wouldn't be reclaiming this hulk immediately. 

So knowing that there was one final task to accomplish, X wearily dragged his feet over to the motionless Maverick and placed his left hand upon one of Wheel Gator's shoulders.

His armor shifted…changed colors to a bright green.

The Spin Wheel was his now.

"One less Maverick for the world to fret about." X slurred. His eyes were beginning to dim out…

It was time to go home before his body completely failed him.

As he vanished into a bright beam of blue white particles…

X realized that he'd pulled that off…

By the slimmest of margins. No armor, no flash of hot rage…A cool, calculating kill. 

So who was right? Morally, the Mavericks were wrong, killing innocents.

But…if he could destroy them this easily…

Was it HE who was the true killer?


	8. Mutually Assured Destruction

MEGA MAN X: ISLAND OF AWAKENING **__**

MEGA MAN X: ISLAND OF AWAKENING

By Erico

CHAPTER SIX: MUTUALLY ASSURED DESTRUCTION

X reappeared as solid matter in the MHHQ's Medical Bay, stumbling about for a bit before leaning back on a cot and shutting his eyes. Wheel Gator had done more damage than could be handled by his systems alone. Luckily, Hazil was a genius in the field of repair. 

It wouldn't be the first time X had come back hurting from a mission. 

"But then again, Zero was here then…" X wheezed. He blinked out a tear and sighed again.

Hazil's tread base made a familiar whirring noise, alerting the new Blue Bomber that the doctor was on his way.

"Well, what do we have here?" Hazil mused annoyedly. X didn't move much, but exhaled.

"One Hunter requesting repairs, Hazil." The gray haired reploid scratched at his head with a thin spindly arm before shrugging and pulling out a medical scanner.

"All right then. Let's see how ya did." As he ran the scan, Hazil blinked at X in surprise. "Hell son, looks like he almost chewed you in half!"

"He nearly did. The Maverick was a Gator class reploid."

"Gator class?! I thought they stopped making those…"

"They did." X replied drily. "Obviously, this guy didn't care. But the Dino Tank's free from Maverick control…I set its AI to attack anything that approached it aside from GDC forces." X paused for a moment and coughed. 

He realized he was spitting out blood.

"How bad is it?" X asked wearily. Hazil rolled his eyes.

"Let's just say I'm getting sick and tired of sticking you under the knife, pal." 

"Great." X grumbled. Hazil cackled lightly and shook his head.

"Too bad I don't have that kind of time. Open up your chest compartment, please." X obliged, letting the slightly damaged and marred metal chestplate part in the middle to reveal a sizeable cavity.

With what seemed to be years of training, Hazil slammed in a Sub-Tank and cackled again. "Drink up, X, because you're not keeping this Sub-Tank for your personal use. It's Medical Bay only, and doesn't hold enough of a recharge to be of any use to ya."

"A mini Sub-Tank?" X mused as he drained the tank dry. Instantly, he felt reinvigorated as powerful energy was transferred to the nanobots in his bloodstream…the repair system for his body. It was these nanobots that his internal operations energy was based on, and that his energy meter relied on for accurate measurement.

**Internal operations energy at 100%. Seek armor repair for full recovery.**

"Hey Hazil, were you planning to do something about…"

"What, the seemingly endless amount of holes in your body?" Hazil said jokingly. "Way ahead of you, X." Quickly, he pulled out another strange device that X recognized.

It was a portable replicator, capable of filling the holes with strong metals that wouldn't turn back into dust. X lay back down and relaxed as Hazil ran the machine over his bruised body, then opened his eyes. There was a nagging question in his head…about a very special friend.

"Hey Hazil…" X began. He clipped himself off though. Hazil looked up from the delicate procedure and stared at X.

"Don't ask permission, X. You're the Commander of the 17th Unit. If you have a question, you can state it simply!"

"Don't remind me…" X sighed. "I didn't like the idea of Commanding the Hunters on June 20th, and I don't like it better anymore now. They're nothing but a bunch of wide eyed kids in the world, looking ahead for visions of grandeur, seeing only stars in their eyes…They don't know what fate could befall them. They don't realize the danger that being a Hunter poses."

"And what's your point?" Hazil clucked. "When you started up, you were no better. Probably even worse, due to your aversion to conflict."

"It was…different!" X said haltingly. "I mean, at least I had Zero to look up to for advice and help…"

"And they've got you." Hazil said blithely. 

"Damnit, Hazil!" X exploded. He sat straight up, his eyes burning hotly. "I'm NOT ZERO!!!" 

Hazil drew back a few paces and set his jaw, staring at X calmly for a few moments. Finally, he lowered his gaze and shook his head sadly.

"No." He lifted his head up and looked at X in disgust. "No, you're most certainly not. Zero didn't spend his time feeling sorry for himself, while you have to go on and blubber about it."

"I'm not a Hunter." X said tensely. Hazil snorted.

"Come on! You said that boss Maverick was a gator class! You don't take on one of those thing without some serious firepower, which you LACK, and come out of it alive. Bull_SHIT_ you're not a Hunter, X. You faced up against one of the most vicious animalian reploids gone bad ever made, and you come out of it with only a few dings in the chassis. In my book, you're the BEST Hunter. Possibly even better than Zero was."

X chewed on his lip for a few moments, and Hazil took the opportunity to finish repairing X's armor. 

Finally, he switched the machine off and patted X on the back.

"Sorry I don't have a lollipop for ya, X. But I do have orders. Cain wants you in the War Room ASAP. We've got another mission for you." X's eyes went wide.

"But I just got back!"

"And the situation just turned into a SNAFU." Hazil shot back tensely. X paused from a return comment.

Something in Hazil's eyes burned brighter than his usual glint of morose humor and sadness. 

FEAR.

Something big was going down. 

"Roger." X replied. He hopped down from the table and walked out the hydraulic door, then turned and began to jog around the MHHQ's main circle for the War Room.

Hazil shook his head, then turned and looked at an old photo of Zero on his computer screen.

"Zero, old buddy…I hope you taught him well." The control chip aside Hazil's computer monitor didn't respond.

It needed the rest of its body for the Crimson Hunter to even conceivably issue a response. 

A body which lay in the fearsome hands of the Mavericks, more than likely.

The War Room was still as bustling as it had been before, and little time had passed. According to X's chronometer, it was just barely passing nine A.M.

_So now you can say you eat Mavericks for breakfast, eh X?_ He blinked a few times in surprise, wondering where that comment had come from. He frowned and parted his lips, speaking softly.

"What the…"

"X!!!" Came Cain's shout. X blinked a few more times and cleared away the odd thought from his mind. No time for this kind of ponderment…not if the situation was as dire as Hazil's even more terse tone of voice indicated.

"What's on fire now?" X queried softly as he walked to stand next to Cain in the command chair. Cain looked a little bleary eyed, but the deprivation of sleep was alleviated by extreme panic.

"If you don't pull off this next mission, all of New Tokyo." X raised an eyebrow in surprise. Cain shook his head and yawned a bit.

"I'm sorry, X. Hazil tried to ship me off to bed while you were at the Dino Tank, but when this got out there was just no hitting the pillow." X folded his arms.

"You still have yet to tell me what 'this' is, Cain." The Doctor nodded.

"Sorry. Perhaps this will clear it up." He tapped in a few keys and brought up what seemed to be a sort of video file, just waiting for the activation command. "Our superiors at the GDC sent us this lovely little note about two hours ago." He said tersely. He hit play.

On the viewscreen appeared the face of one Emilius Cristoph…The AmeriCanadian Alliance representative of the GDC. He ruffled back his almost completely gray hair, wrinkles of worry showing in his face.

_"Hunters, I send this message under the most dire of circumstances. As all the world knows, Cornus Island, our prized gem and symbol of global cooperation has been usurped by the Maverick followers of the late Sigma in what is now being called the Second Uprising."_

"Yesterday's news." X mumbled softly to himself. In all truth, it was. Today was the 21st of December.

_"What is even more frightening than the prospect of the Mavericks harnessing the Dino Tank's powers is that they already have on that island a powerful attack system long since banned and dismantled the world around…I speak of course, of nuclear weapons." _

THAT caught X's interest. What would that outdated, yet still potent powerhouse weapon be doing on Cornus?

_"Before America joined Canada in the alliance, and before they joined the GDC, Cornus Island served as much of a military purpose as Hawaii and Guam had before it. In the northwestern section of Cornus's landmass, an area which surprisingly harbored barren desert terrain, the American Military built a Tactical Nuclear Missile Base._

When Cornus was handed over to the GDC, they began the long process of disarmament…I say a long process for the following reason. It hadn't been completed when the Mavericks took possession."

"Oh, Christ up a tree…" X wheezed in stunned disbelief. Cain nodded, but didn't speak up just then.

_"There is one missile left on the Desert Base, and to all reports it is still fully functional. The safeties are on, but it is a safe bet the Mavericks will find some way to crack the security precautions and launch it. It will take them at least a full day and a half…that is the least favorable estimate we could come up with._

What they might target is unknown, although it is a safe bet that they're aiming for you. The Maverick Hunter Headquarters. Surely, there is no greater morale booster for their cause than the utter obliteration of the place that killed their leader.

So, for the sake of the world and your own safety, Hunters, the GDC has told me to pass on the order.

You shall strike at the Desert Base and destroy the missile. Do not worry about causing a nuclear explosion. As long as the rocket does not pass boost phase, the high yield warhead will not be activated.

Just take it down before it launches.

Godspeed, Hunters."

The transmission blinked out, and the War Room fell silent.

All eyes turned to X once more…

All eyes pleading silently…

All eyes asking him to risk his own neck to save theirs. X shut his optics for a moment. It reminded him of what the character of Spock had said to James T. Kirk on a very old Star Trek movie.

**The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few…or the one.**

He opened his eyes again and looked at Cain.

"I guess I'm heading off again. Am I going alone?" X swiveled about, watching the War Room with piercing eyes.

Not one single reploid head could bear to match his gaze.

None would go with him.

Crestfallen, X clenched a fist up and shook his head.

"Perhaps I stand a better chance going it alone, anyhow." _If only so I don't have to worry about getting any other Hunters killed on my watch. I've had enough of that happen already._

"Do you have the coordinates?" X asked next. Cain handed his chief Hunter a datapadd. X scanned the contents for a moment and nodded slowly.

Maybe his new Spin Wheel could come in handy. Of course, he'd need to test it first. What devastating potential it held was unknown.

Not for long. He handed Cain back the datapadd, took one last look around the room and shook his head angrily.

"Nothing but a bunch of timid tenderfoots." X grumbled softly, too softly for anyone to hear. Cain perked his ears up and frowned.

"Erh?" X shook his head.

"Never mind, Cain. Just pray for me." Cain blinked his bleary orbs.

He knew.

"Keep alive, X. You're the only one here who can do anything."

"And I get tired of hearing it." X replied raggedly. He brought his warp generator online and set the coordinates.

And the skies parted…

The deserts of Cornus Island were windswept, but windless. The stereotypical view of a desert held true to form, with hot temperatures, no humidity and dunes for miles around. About the only noticeable features in this sea of endless silicon was the metallic buildings, kept free from the sand's burgeoning weights. That didn't prevent particles from flying in through the open doors and littering the ground. 

But it didn't bother Overdrive much. He plodded along oddly out of the door before turning to the figure behind him and craning his long neck.

"So the latest reports aren't good, huh?" The midgetlike reploid hovered free from the darkened hallways of the main missile base building, standing atop his spike lined chariot with his hands tucked behind his back. He kept the stovepipe hat in place. 

"Not in the least, Overdrive." Serges replied calmly. There was no trace of emotion in his voice, something that always had chilled Overdrive. The one robotic eyed Maverick doctor blinked a few times before continuing. "To all accounts, we lost contact with the Dino Tank and Wheel Gator about four hours ago. Now we can't even approach it. It seems that not only did X destroy Gator, but he reprogrammed the Dino Tank to resist all Maverick advances. We can't reclaim it."

"That's a heavy loss." Ostrich admitted. "Do we know how X got to it? I mean, if he had approached from outside he would have been vigorously attacked." Serges waggled a finger.

"We have to give credit to those humans responsible for the Dino Tank's development. I had an uplink to the Dino Tank's systems, and it seems that they left one back door open for any emergency. A one time use warp transponder…usable only to reploids. It was also completely separate from the Dino Tank's main controls. We didn't know it was there until it was too late."

"Like Zero's revival warp subroutine?" Overdrive listed poignantly. That caused Serges to glare up at the Maverick General in disdain.

"I'm half your size, but realize I can mop the floor with you. Don't push me." Overdrive averted his gaze away from his commanding officer and shrugged nonchalantly.

"Hey, just the truth. It seems like everywhere we turn, the GDC forces leave little tidbits to annoy us. And the Hunters are GDC, right?"

"They're not funded by it, but yes." Serges clipped. "The Maverick Hunters are under the indirect control of the GDC. They don't have the banner waving over their HQ, but the chain of command still exists." Overdrive cackled.

"Right. The HQ." Serges nodded, looking out to the desert alongside Overdrive.

"It's rather…alluring, isn't it?" Serges asked quietly. Overdrive blinked a few times, then twisted his long neck down to look at his commander. Parting his beak in a small frown, the Maverick General watched as Serges' face softened, his hands held behind his back. He seemed to become hypnotized by the sight of all that sand.

"What, the desert?" Overdrive replied uneasily. Serges nodded.

"The blandness, how it all comes together. Everything the same, nothing ever changing over the windswept dunes. In this silence, no organic creature can live. No bustling metropolis with flashing lights, noise pollution and a burgeoning overpopulation exists. There is just the sand…and the quiet." He shook his head. "And such shall be what Japan will look like once you complete your mission. What is the time before you can crack the safety measures?" Ostrich grinned, a wide smile that stretched all about his beak and seemed to radiate down to his powerful legs. Truly, with arms that were next to useless in a fight, it was his speed and immense leg strength that saw him through battles.

"Well, the code sets are complex, but a little outdated. My techs estimate another hour and a half."

"That will work." Serges said. "And the time at the MHHQ by then will still be before noon." He grinned. "Nothing like roasting Hunters for brunch." Ostrich nodded, the devilish smile creeping into his own face.

"And at long last, we'll finish what Sigma and that first team started long ago. The destruction of the only fighting force left against us."

"Yeah. Only they had a high powered plasmic cannon atop Karashita."

"Lucky us. We've got a missile that if it lands anywhere of a half mile of the MHHQ, it'll annihilate it completely. Boom, no more Hunters!" Serges laughed at that, then stopped suddenly. The tense look in his eye returned.

"Just keep on your toes, Overdrive. X struck the big target first, and I'm betting the GDC's told the Hunters that this missile still exists. Odds are he's coming. COMING FOR YOU." He finished the last part of his sentence by poking a metallic finger into Ostrich's lower belly, the only part of the Maverick Serges could reach even atop his hoverboard chariot. Ostrich glared.

"I think Wheel Gator underestimated X, sir. I knew him well, and the one flaw he always held was his inability to knock off his carelessness. And X has great potential. He's proven it before. I'll just need to keep on my toes with him if he shows up."

"You do that, Ostrich." Serges said. "For now, I'll head back to the Central Computer and present my reports. You were my last stop on the circuit."

"Oh?" Ostrich asked with an upraised eyebrow. Serges nodded.

"This island offers many different resources and opportunities. And if we're going to get Ice Fortress fully online a lot sooner, we need to dredge up as much as we can before the situation becomes worse." 

"You're worried?" Ostrich said in surprise. Serges nodded again.

"I'm starting to think…that referring to X as a damned lucky idiot is a bad idea. I saw the interior broadcast of the fight between him and Wheel Gator, and the tactics he used there…" Serges' voice trailed off. He couldn't bring himself to finish it.

Finally, he dropped it completely and shrugged.

"I leave this in your capable hands, Ostrich. Don't fail."

"I'd sooner die than let X interfere with my mission." Overdrive replied, stiffening up into a straight posture. Serges rolled his robotic optic around in a circle.

"Knock on wood." Serges and his hoverboard shot up into the strata, a bright beam of azure and red light."

Overdrive Ostrich clucked his birdlike tongue for a moment before shrugging off the sudden chill his commanding officer had left him with.

"Might as well start a patrol around the perimeter." He said weakly. Then he took off running, his massive legs kicking up clods of sand.

_Any excuse to run…_

The bright blue beam of energy and semi-solid matter that was X crashed down to earth again, its new location fixed, routed, and responded to. Coalescing into a solid figure once more, X blinked his eyes and became aware of his surroundings. 

For him, it had been a mere blink in time, even though the transport time was more like a few minutes. His internal clock, a small gadget that always remained unwarped told him as much. He quickly brought up a small menu in the corner of his eye and glanced at his energy stats.

"Full power…for now, anyways." X grumbled. He felt bitter, he felt betrayed. 

He didn't like doing this. But he had to. And perhaps more than the last mission's goal. 

Having the MHHQ, and Tokyo…the only home left to him go up in a ball of atomic fire didn't exactly catch the new Blue Bomber as a happy option. 

And he still remembered the chaos caused by the last attack the Mavericks struck against Tokyo…against the MHHQ, specifically.

Then, it had been Boomer Kuwanger and the Maverick's 'plasmic cannon' placed atop Karashita Tower that had threatened them. In a single shot of that devastating weapon, Sigma's forces managed to eliminate almost everyone and everything in the MHHQ, save for Cain, Hazil, X and Zero, and even fewer functional pieces of equipment.

The mission then had been of critical importance, and X nearly ended up killing himself then. 

But then, Zero was there to save him. Three times in the First Uprising, the Crimson Hunter had pulled X up by the scruff of his neck from the gaping jaws of death.

"And now…" Now that Zero was gone, X thought mournfully…

_No. Not gone. Kidnapped by the MAVERICKS._

"I guess it's up to me." X said finally. 

The entire period of reminiscence and self doubt had taken all of fifteen seconds…if even that.

As far as X was concerned, he was living on borrowed time. Even 15 seconds was too much.

So he took off running, towards the closest building. He doubted highly it was the one with the missile in it, for it looked too small and with too many obvious adornments for a silo. No, the structure with the missile would be close, but very well hidden from spy cameras above. X would have to function the hard way. Search and destroy.

A steel girder of some sort, probably thrown out by the Mavericks as unnecessary scrap lay in front of him and the building, blocking his path. It was an easy wall jump for X to clear it. 

It was after the girder he spotted his first series of foes. The first one he knew, a small robotic sentry on two wheels known as a Road Rider. It generated ample speed, although its simple patrol pattern made it easy to take out if you jumped its approach.

X cleared the whirring sentry with a halfhearted jump and turned about, his left arm shifting into a Buster and firing four shots. They all struck home, causing the drone to ride on with no controls until it slammed into the girder X had jumped. With a final whine it became crushed under the girder's weight as the unstable metal structure fell on top of it. X shook his head and turned about.

The next one was more serious in design. It was a heavily armored, low target warrior drone that resembled a greenish scorpion. But immobile as it stayed while in attack mode, the combination of its tail and claw blasters produced a spray of plasma fire that could not be dodged, even by the highest jump a reploid could muster.

X cursed and jumped a low level combo blast from its claw blasters. Its actual name was something like a Righttod or a Sabottein, but neither fit it well. 

It was not approved for use in the civilized military…of course, not everything the GDC condemned was treated as condemned. 

"But that never stopped manufacturers from making Scorwarbots now, did it?" X said angrily. Tests showed it could take up to more than fifteen hits with a plasma Buster to knock a Scor'bot out, and in that time, the thing could wipe out X easily.

"Let's see how he likes a sawblade." X growled. As he brought up his variable weapons grid, his blue armor flashed for a moment, to be changed a few moments later to green. The Spin Wheel was active, and ready for firing. 

He pulled the trigger and watched the weapon activate for the very first time. Air molecules were drawn in, to be re-synthesized and reformed. A slight whine, and then it appeared.

It was a brilliant green tempered metal, sharp edged and looking dangerous. Somehow, an internal power source…leftover plasma?…powered the entire weapon. It fell to earth, the sawblade beginning to spin for a few moments before it took off like a shot. Using the ground as its cutting table, the Spin Wheel flew along until it made contact with the Scor'bot. X found himself watching in awe as the weapon spat out angry sparks and chewed its way clean through the assembly. Within a few moments, the Scor'bot was nothing more than two cleanly separated piles of scrap, the sawblade running on ahead until its power source died. It vanished into a pile of dust, the sad aftereffect to the limited charge.

But what power…X had to whistle. Even though slow on the getup, the Spin Wheel was a powerful tool that more than likely could chew through anything standing in his way. A positive addition to his arsenal…seeing as X had downloaded the First Uprising's weapons data to the MHHQ main computer and never bothered to regain them. Somehow, carrying weapons that those Mavericks…once his friends…had in their power had left X with a bitter taste. 

But he had no such disputes over this new weapon. And undoubtedly X knew…

Where there were Mavericks…

There were new weapons.

Emilius Cristoph sat in an enclosed room, alongside several other prominent GDC members. They and they alone were here, selected by the GDC's main body to act as intermediaries during the 'Cornus Incident.'

A rather droll and useless name, Cristoph thought grimly. No, what the Maverick Hunters and indeed, the rest of the world was calling the intense struggle over Cornus Island seemed to fit better. The Second Uprising.

Punchier, at least. Odd how history always seemed to record the punchy names for horrific events. The Rape of Nanking. The Nuremburg Trials. The Second Uprising.

"Mister Cristoph!" A voice spoke up louder than before, snapping the elder representative from his dozing thoughts. He looked across the table, into the slightly aggravated face of Julio Mayvin, a member from the Central Americas.

"Yes?"

"I asked you for your report, sir." Cristoph kept himself from rolling his eyes.

"Yes, sorry. As ordered by this committee, I sent the Maverick Hunters our latest data concerning the surviving ICBM at the Desert Missile Base earlier today. They have been alerted to the threat, and earlier I received word that Mega Man X was off to disarm it." 

"So, he's still there, eh?" Mused another member. Cristoph looked over to the younger dignitary, Samuel Taban of the British consortium. 

"Who, Mega Man X?" Cristoph asked. Taban nodded, looking up.

"Yes. The final creation of Doctor Light. I daresay, that boy has done more to help humanity than anyone else in existence."

"Ahem. 'That Boy,' Mister Taban? You speak of Mega Man X as if he were human." Cristoph said amusedly. Taban adjusted his monocle (A showpiece, for Taban's eyes were in perfect working order) and nodded, his smile dimming somewhat at Cristoph's jest.

"He may not be human in the sense that he has blood composed of iron and hemoglobin, but his heart, robotic as it is Cristoph…sometimes beats with more humanity in it than most members of our species demonstrate." It was a well veiled insult back at Cristoph, and the AmeriCanadian representative was no man's fool. He was also not inclined to give his opponents the slightest opportunity to feel victory. Keeping his cool jestful smile, Cristoph harrumphed for a moment and bobbed his head slightly. No flush of red, no flustered frown adorned the wrinkled face of the elderly Caucasian.

"His heart may at that." He turned back to his notes and shuffled them, setting the tone of the meeting back in order. "Now, onto the next critical issues of Cornus. The Dino Tank, for one…"

"Remind me to have a talk with the WEATHER STATION!" X grumbled angrily, raising a hand up to cover his eyes from the sudden sandstorm that had erupted.

There he had been one moment before, riding on a Landchaser left out conveniently in front of a spike trap left by the Mavericks and soaring up a long incline with his cannon blazing to take out the Crash Roaders charging at him. They were actually more low level reploids with limited intelligence riding on similar Landchasers, but the name X had given them was shorter and seemed to fit better.

And as he'd cleared a massive pit that had once contained a whole group of ICBMs and landed safely onto the other side of the massive leap, the sandstorm erupted from nowhere.

The whipping wind carried the grainy particles with such force that it blinded all long range optic functions, and made X blind as a bat in close quarters. If there was another pit, he would have no way of knowing it until he began to plummet…by then, too late to do anything.

So he reduced his speed, and found that as his own engine noise decreased he became better able to distinguish external sounds. Quickly, he tuned more power to his auditory receptors. They were the only thing that could tell him what was coming.

And the storm grew louder. X thought at first it might have been because he jacked up his sensor's power a few steps too much…but this much noise, no. He was approaching what seemed to be the center of the storm. 

"Odd…" X clucked. Suddenly, he picked up a Crash Roader coming his way. Quickly, he turned his Landchaser around and bore his cannon sight on the closest position he could peg the sound to. He pulled the trigger a few times and waited.

A satisfying explosion was the result, and X turned back around and kept driving.

"And it still grows louder!" He said in surprise. Something about this sandstorm seemed…out of place.

X knew sandstorms could occur incredibly fast and without warning, but it took more than two seconds to spur one to full gale. And then it hit him.

It had to be false. Maverick made, most likely.

He bore down upon the sound and leapt from his cycle, letting the cutting edge Landchaser soar on…

And then X heard the sickening crunch as the Landchaser impacted something solid and metallic…just before the engine went critical and exploded.

That in turn set off a large secondary explosion, one that he heard more clearly than before. Instantly, the winds died down and the sand fell back to earth. X scratched his head for a moment and waited.

And then it became clear to him. What the Landchaser had hit was large, probably twenty feet around and eight feet tall. From its design…

"Some kind of wind machine that pulls in sand?" X scratched at his head. What he saw beside it made his stomach churn some.

A Maverick…a true Maverick, once a living reploid like any other lay beside it, tattered and blown apart from the horrendous explosion X's Landchaser had wrought. It was he who had been operating the machine, more than likely.

But the Maverick's Landchaser had survived. And that, X would be needing. He said a silent prayer to the once living Maverick, then pushed back his emotions of guilt and sorrow. As Zero once said, "The time for pity parties isn't during a battle!"

_But don't ignore the feelings, either._

X blinked, frowning at the sudden voice. He remembered hearing that voice before…it wasn't new.

"What the…" He said again. His auditory receptors picked up a whining engine from behind, jarring him from the self thought. "Aah, screw it." X grumbled. He dashed over to the Landchaser, hopped onto it in a smooth motion and gunned the engine to life, flying away from the scene. No sense in waiting around for other Mavericks to come gawk at his handiwork while he was still there.

And he didn't have time for it, either.

Overdrive Ostrich's wristcomm suddenly began to chirp, indicating he had a message needing his urgent attention. He lifted it up and flipped the transceiver to life.

"Report." Came his gruffish, yet chirping reply.

"Sir, we've got trouble!" Came the harried reply. Ostrich raised an eyebrow, instinctively knowing WHO was responsible.

"Mega Man X." He said through clenched teeth. He scratched some sand free from his beak and shook his head. "So what did our Blue Bomber blow up?"

"He got the sand vortex machine."

"_Sheeeit._" Came Ostrich's unhappy reply. "That means he's within less than two clicks of the main building." There was no irrational anger in his voice, unlike Wheel Gator. Ostrich kept himself calm, collected and level at all times. Fear and rage got in his way. "I'm heading on my way back. How long until launch?"

"Our techs report four minutes." 

"We may not have even that long." Ostrich said tersely. "Get on it. See you soon." He snapped the comm off and took running. Sand whipped from behind his feet as he progressed steadily, his legs moving at high speed to attain his goal faster. He held his beak tightly as he ran, keeping the sand away from his throat and voice synthesizers.

"I'll be one unhappy bird if that Damned Lucky Idiot does to my mission what he did to Wheel Gator's."

X's cycle was racing at speeds far beyond recommended, though he kept the engine in the green temperature zone. By relying on a series of short bursts instead of a long fuel burn, he kept his consumption down while still providing ample speed.

And then as he charged on, X realized how very close to the missile he actually was. Covered in a huge sand dune, a lone doorway leading to an underground facility lay open. Not a single foe stood in his way then. 

So he flew in, holding tight to the reins and disengaging the Cycle's extra thrusters. But he was still flying. He flew over a long garbage chute and onwards, shooting forth like a bullet from a gun. Over another drop he flew…

Only to find himself staring at a long passageway lined with spikes, and at the end of it, an incredible wall of the deadly shards that could end his life in a single blink. His eyes flew open in surprise, even as he began to turn the Landchaser in a vain attempt to slow it down.

"GOD, NOOO!" He screamed. _Damn you, TURN! Turn…_Slowly, the Landchaser responded, even though the forward momentum continued to drag him towards that inevitable wall of spikes. At long last, he got the cycle completely turned.

He gave the thrusters everything they had.

Miraculously, he slowed to a complete stop, with no forwards or backwards momentum whatsoever. He sat there, wheezing in shock only three feet from certain demise, hovering on the bed of spikes by the Cycle's repulsors.

And then he noticed the red and silver glittering gem hovering beside him on a small repulsor platform.

"What the…A HEART TANK?!" He grumbled in surprise. It made perfect sense that the Mavericks would stash it here. A prize this great would be incredibly hard to get to for anyone, although it would serve as bait for the trap. 

Too bad they never expected there would be a Hunter crazy enough to drive a Landchaser into the facility.

X quickly tucked the Heart Tank into his chest cavity, feeling fresh invigoration run through him as his systems gained even more internal operations energy. His meter, displayed up in the top left corner of his left optic for a brief moment, took a small jump in size.

X took a deep breath, shook his head in disbelief and drove out of the trap.

Letting the cycle continue out towards the exit in an attempt to smash whatever forces were following him, X dropped down the passageway before the spike trap, prepared to continue on. The missile wasn't far now.

Neither was a Scor'Bot. X switched over to his Spin Wheel and popped one off, climbing the wall back up to avoid its plasma fire while his weapon continued on. He waited until the grinding noise ceased, then hopped back down and ran on.

_"Three minutes until missile launch."_ X lifted his head up and gaped at the announcement.

"Oh, Christ." He whispered. There wasn't that much time left!

He found himself almost falling down an impossibly huge drop at the end of his tunnel, and with a pained cry he leapt off in a dash jump.

It carried him to the other side of the shaft, where a tiny niche with a series of barrier blocks lay. X hopped up and stared at it.

The missile could very well lay behind these. He had to get through. He fired off his Buster, before realizing it was still set to Spin Wheel. 

But it did the job. The whirling metallic blade chewed through the obstacle with ease before dying out, leaving X a clear path. So he ran through.

But it wasn't a missile he saw at the other side of the tunnel.

It was a blinking stasis chamber, with red and blue lights and a bluish stasis field, standing 8 by 14 feet. X let his jaw drop.

"Oh, jeez…" He whistled. Trembling, he stepped forth towards it. Reacting to his presence, the capsule's side slid down.

And there, just like six months ago, stood the holographic figure of Doctor Thomas Xavier Light, a little more weary, a little more worn than before…

But him nonetheless. The hologram smiled.

"Hello, X."

"I didn't think that you would face only one challenge in your life, X." The hologram continued. "To that end, I created even more capabilities to the capsules. Though these are the same shells you used to enhance yourself…" The hologram froze, and X realized it must be thinking, using previous data as a sort of interaction, "Six months ago, realize their functions will be different. INCREASED."

"I don't have time for this." X replied wearily. The hologram flickered a moment, then came back and spoke again.

"Of course, there are places where time is of the essence, X. This must be such a time if you've activated this holographic subroutine. Enter the capsule. It contains an enhancement that will modify your main drive unit. If you thought dashing was helpful before, you'll now have the upgraded version. AIR DASH. Use it wisely…though I know you will." Light's hologram smiled for a brief moment, then blinked out completely, leaving behind a final ghostly sentence. "Know I walk with you…my son."

X paused for a moment, then shook his head sadly. 

"I'm sorry, dad." He leapt into the capsule and felt the familiar tingling as it began the short process of altering his design.

_"Two minutes, fifteen seconds to launch."_ X bared his teeth and clenched a fist. 

"Come on, come on…" He whispered to the capsule. At long last, it completed its work and released him from the inner sanctum. X looked down at his feet.

Where once stood solid blue, now was white with red trimming and yellow pads.

"Air dash…" He whispered. He watched as the capsule began to shimmer for a moment, then vanished completely in warped light.

Once again, X was alone.

And he ran on…

A longer drop, a longer run, and he figured out how the air dash worked. It took some time to get used to, but in the end, X saw possibilities. The Dino Tank, for instance. That secret room in the ceiling he could reach now, and he spent half a second wondering what it might contain.

Then he bared his teeth and ran on, knowing full well he was on borrowed time.

_"Thirty seconds to launch."_ X saw a revolving gateway ahead of him, a Scor'Bot patiently guarding it. He shook his head back and forth and shifted to the Spin Wheel again, releasing a shot. It took off like a rocket, flying out ahead of X and slicing through the foe cleanly.

_"Fifteen seconds to launch."_ X slammed through the gateway.

And there it stood, the final ICBM of the United States, ready to be launched by the Mavericks. It was massive, and only the top third stood where X could see it. Even that was imposing enough.

_"Ten…nine…eight…seven…"_ X let out a feral scream and charged towards the missile leaping up in the air and using his newfound dash to land solidly on the side of it.

_"Six…five…four…three..."_ X hopped up the side and began to charge his Buster. His right hand he used to extend his claw gauntlets out with, burying them in the missile's side as a handhold. He knew the next part would be bumpy. Already the rocket's engine vibrations threatened to jar him loose.

_"Two…one…IGNITION."_ And the missile flew. Up, up, up, out of the towering silo's depths into the open air. X barely managed to hold on, but Cristoph's message rang in his ears.

**_If you disable it before it passes through boost phase, the nuclear warhead will not explode._**

And he fired, and fired, and fired.

At no other time in all his life had X ever shot his Buster with that much tempo and ferocity, and his mind began to whine with warning messages about the Buster's temperature. It was overheating.

But he fired on anyhow.

At long last, the plasma ate through the missile's metallic skin and began to burn into the vital directional components. The effect was imminent.

With no computer to guide its course, the missile could land anywhere. Its own safeties kicked in…

And the missile blew in its own destruction. Detonation charges built in for such accidents ignited in the fuel cells, filling the fuel with flaming oxygen.

X was flung outwards from the concussion in a rush of noise that almost blew out his auditory receptors and did manage to stun him.

He fell back to earth, collapsing onto the sand in a jarring blow of gravity that blew the air out of him. He shook his head for a moment, acknowledged the 5% loss of power, and began to pick himself up.

No major damage. Just a few scrapes. 

And then X's ears reactivated just then.

In time enough that he could hear footsteps walking towards him.

He jumped to his feet, priming his Buster and turning his optics towards the sound.

The other reploid who stood there towered above him, a massive birdlike reploid who was undoubtedly Maverick. Sigma's icon was a part of his armor. His legs were massive, his arms flimsy, his beak stunning. The two stared at each other for a long while, just waiting for the other to move. Finally, the bird Maverick grunted.

"Well, let me see here…that's one sand vortex generator, one fully armed ICBM, and a lot of Scor'Bot drones."

"So what's the damages?" X said half jokingly, keeping with the Maverick's dour barroom repair line. The bird rubbed at his chin, then craned his neck up and cracked the metallic column from disuse. Then he looked down at X again, his glare brighter.

"It'll cost you your life."

The Maverick let out a powerful cry that sounded much like a chirp before he charged towards X with speeds X had not faced since he fought Sigma. But X had a move now he hadn't held then.

He jumped straight up in the air and activated his dash thrusters, blazing forth through the sky with ease. Ostrich charged on below him, unable to slow himself down enough to bring an attack on where he stood.

X dropped back down behind the Maverick and turned about, releasing his shot. Plasma met the Maverick's backside, burning angrily at the armor before vanishing from lack of energy. Ostrich cried out in pain and skidded to a halt, turning back around towards X with a look of incredulity on his face.

"Impossible…no one can dodge my front strike!" 

"Until now." X retorted. His Buster began to whine from the charge he was building up in it, and he prepped himself for another jump.

Ostrich rubbed at the tender spot X had smashed with his shot for a moment, then growled. Somehow, he kept it at that, which surprised X. 

"Who are you?" X asked. The Maverick smiled a bit.

"Overdrive Ostrich, but why would that matter?"

"You just seem…a little different than most Mavericks." X replied. Ostrich rolled his eyes for a moment, then leapt up in the air and fired what seemed to be a crescent energy shot into the air. It divided into four shots that fell back towards earth, ready to slash through anything. X narrowly dodged one shot, and watched its path slice cleanly through the sand.

"Different, yes." Ostrich replied, landing away from X. He turned back and crossed his arms. "Most Mavericks tend to froth at the mouth somewhat, don't they? That sort of blinding rage never did help me. Violen perhaps, but…" Ostrich shook his head on the elongated neck. "I digress. I should be keeping myself focused."

"On what, my destruction?" X retorted. Ostrich nodded primly. 

"Seeing as you've blown…" He stopped and smiled a bit at the pun, "Blown all chances of my mission here from succeeding, the logical thing to do would be to claim revenge out of your hide."

"For your own sense of justice?"

"No, nothing so explainable as Machiavellian policy." Ostrich replied easily. "More along the lines of, I'm a Maverick, you're a Hunter, and we gotta fight. Honestly, I've got nothing against ya. Wheel Gator hated my guts and all that, so no big loss. But you and me, we gotta fight."

"So you're comparing us to cats and dogs?" X said dolefully. "It seems the more simple answer would be for us to just walk away from this. I've accomplished what I was sent here to do, and I don't feel like spilling more blood."

"Aah, but that's the easy way out." Ostrich replied, twirling a short winglike finger. "The flee or flight syndrome of nature it seems, is reflected in our two personas. You suggest that I walk away, lick my wounds and continue to live, which is completely opposite of your mission as a Maverick Hunter."

"So what are you saying?" X shot back, narrowing his eyes. Ostrich grinned a wide smile that stretched all about his beak.

"I'm saying you're not a true Maverick Hunter, X." 

The two looked at each other for a long moment. X finally harrumphed and nodded, his eyes sad.

"You're absolutely right. I'm not a Maverick Hunter." Ostrich's grin stayed on, and he suddenly charged towards X in a series of bounding leaps. X deftly slipped underneath the charge, flipping himself around and firing off his supershot.

Once again, Overdrive Ostrich was harmed while X remained unscathed. Ostrich screamed in pain as open air hit his innards, and he clutched at the gaping wound in his side with a free hand. He turned about, looking on in awe as X straightened up and looked at him with dead eyes.

"I'm not a Maverick Hunter, Ostrich. I'm a vigilante hidden behind the curtain of a group." Ostrich glared back at his foe. This time, the glare stayed.

"Damn my sense of calm…YOU'RE FRIED!" Ostrich howled. X raised his Buster and braced it with his right arm.

"I'll see you in the Colonel's chicken bucket first, bird."

The two foes maneuvered at incredible speeds during their battle, one by footwork and one by rocket thrusters embedded in his boots. Plasma and sonic energy tore up the sand dunes and threatened to turn their world into a glassine reality.

And though X had the ability to distinguish patterns, Ostrich was running on more than just microfusion energy. He had the power of Mavericks in him.

And Ostrich was winning…

X coughed out purplish reploid blood from his mouth as Ostrich's massive right foot collided with his stomach and slammed him backwards. He fired off a semi charged green shot that did little more than deflect the followup blow.

Ostrich grinned across his beaked mouth and laughed hollowly.

"Oh, you fool. The deal with Wheel Gator was he underestimated you…too bad I've learned not to fall for that mistake, eh?" X wheezed again, trying futilely to clear the sand away from his torn synthskin. The winds had picked up and were blowing the desert environment about with ease, threatening to bury both warriors.

X leaned against a dune and took in several halting breaths, keeping his Buster level as he read his body's latest diagnostic.

**_Internal operations energy at 32%. Exercise caution._**

"Like Hell…" He said gravely. Ostrich perked his head up and opened his mouth, spewing out another hateful shot of concentrated sound waves. It dug into X's chest armor and caused the warrior to scream in pain. "Make that 24% power…"

X saw that wading through the desert sand was having an adverse effect on the long legged Ostrich, whose speed had slowed to a crawl. If only there were a way to keep him pinned to a general area to land more shots…

And as it had frequently done in the First Uprising, X's mind flashed with a brilliant idea, golden opportunity for success.

_There is a way, X._

And he knew. Knew instinctively how to win. X raised his Buster and fired, the charge shot he'd been building unleashed.

But it didn't fly for Ostrich's body, and the Maverick guffawed as much when he saw its path.

"What, are you trying to blow out your own grave here?" X grimaced, watching with hope.

It was his only chance at this.

The plasma ball slammed into the sand just in front of Ostrich's path, burning furiously at the sand and melting it down.

Sand…silicon. And silicon made glass.

The blowing winds cooled down the substance immediately, just as Ostrich had planted both feet into the mixture.

With a jerk, the Maverick found his balance interrupted, and he fell forth with his arms flailing. He collapsed headfirst into the sand, pulling himself free in indignation as he spat out the ground.

And then he looked up at X. X, who lay against the dune with his Buster primed. His eyes were dark, unmoving. Set.

Ostrich blinked a few times. Then shook his head in disbelief.

"Incredible…Me. Defeated by you?" X nodded, still laying there from his wounds. Ostrich was also helpless to do much of anything. Most anything. He narrowed his eyes and focused, then opened his mouth to fire off another Sonic Slicer.

A small shot of plasma down his gullet promptly burned away the attack apparatus's firing mechanism, causing the Maverick to choke vigorously on the smoke.

Now he truly was defeated. X picked himself up and walked over next to the Maverick, keeping his Buster primed.

"You fight well…Maverick Hunter." Warbled Overdrive Ostrich. Somehow, it seemed his voicebox had been harmed as well. X gave a terse shake of his head.

"I told you…"

"I know." Ostrich replied deftly. "But trust me on this, it doesn't matter what you think you are. The simple fact is you ARE a Maverick Hunter. And I'm a Maverick. And you and me…"

"We had to fight." X replied. 

"Exactly." The two left it at that for a while, just letting the breeze blow over them. Finally, Ostrich spoke up.

"Well, seeing as I'm kinda beaten…we've got two ways around this. You can blow my head off and walk away, or you can run away while I set my Microfusion generator to blow."

"Can't I just walk away and leave you here?"

"That'd be uncivilized." Ostrich chided. 

"More importantly, why haven't you set your generator to blow while I'm standing here and take the both of us?" X pressed on. Ostrich laughed.

"I lost my chance to take you down…I leave it to the others. So, door number one or door number two?"

"Two." X replied wearily. Ostrich nodded. 

"Best keep your distance then. Before I do…care to swipe my ability?" X raised an eyebrow.

"How the devil are you Maverick?! God, you talk to me like we're best friends, you offer me your abilities, you tell me you're not gonna do the suicide move…!? What's wrong with you?!" Ostrich twisted his head up, something twinkling in his eyes.

"Let's just say, X…" He shook his head and looked away. "Let's just say that for the first time in my remembered Maverick life, I'm seeing things clearly." And then X realized…

Overdrive Ostrich was crying.

"I'm sorry…" X tried to start. Something inside of him felt wrong…wrong for doing this.

_God, he isn't Maverick…_

**Yes he is.**

But look at him!

****

Even darkness can see the light.

He doesn't deserve to…

**He wants to.**

WHY DOES HE HAVE TO BE LIKE THIS?! WHY CAN'T HE BE ANOTHER RAMPAGING MADMAN?!

**Why can't you be a cold blooded Maverick Hunter like Zero? Same thing.**

"It's all right." Ostrich consoled. "Just…just knowing I tried my best makes up for it." X reached down and pressed his left hand against Ostrich's neck, feeling the data from the Maverick's weapon integrate into his Variable Weapons Grid. 

**Sonic Slicer Special Weapon accepted. **

"And X…" Ostrich began. X looked back down at his foe with a look of sorrow.

"Yes?" 

"Just to let you know…Zero's not dead. He's just…in pieces." X clenched his eyes shut and walked away.

A few moments later, he felt the low concussion wave as the Maverick known as Overdrive Ostrich blew himself apart in microfusion overload.

And he warped out. Not for the MHHQ.

For the Dino Tank.

He had a secret alcove to find.

The desert base radio operator's image blinked off the screen, his report to the commanding Mavericks ended.

Agile turned to face his two companions, a sour look on his face. 

"This is nuts. Absolutely nuts. He got Ostrich too?!" He sighed. Violen scratched on the inside of his ear and Serges rolled his eyes before clicking the holographic display on.

The image of X as he ran into the missile silo and leapt onto the mass weapon of destruction flickered to life. It was altered from before, though. X was wearing new boots…

Just as in the First Uprising, X had somehow gained new armor.

"I see now why Sigma fell to Mega Man X. He's quite formidable." Agile looked at the other two slowly, looking for a sign of interest. "Perhaps…we were wrong about him." Serges shrugged.

"He's just one Hunter, reploid prototype or not. But you're right about one thing. That's two Maverick Generals he's taken down, as well as any chance of seeing the nuclear death of the MHHQ. I don't think our team leaders can keep him from taking back Cornus Island long enough. We may have to intervene."

"How?" Violen asked, reluctantly pulling his finger from his ear. Serges had only one answer to that.

He turned, and looked darkly at the three separate sections of Zero.

"Perhaps a little incentive…"

X's warp signal crashed into the War Room of the MHHQ, solidifying into one solid person again. While still weary from his battle with Overdrive Ostrich in more ways than one, he now also had improved gauntlets on his arms.

The secret alcove at the Dino Tank had actually contained Doctor Light's Second X-Buster upgrade, which when X had tested it out, allowed him to charge energy in BOTH arms…An ability that Zero sadly never had, and could have used…six months ago…

Doctor Cain turned to Mega Man X, a look of stunned surprise on his face.

"Speak of the devil…" X raised an eyebrow.

"What happened?" The doctor grabbed X by the shoulder and walked over to the main computer monitor.

"A group of Mavericks calling themselves the 'X-Hunters' have just contacted us. They've got a bone to pick with you. A big one." X narrowed his eyes. Cain sighed and punched in the receive switch.

The monitor flickered to life, displaying vox only. No images, but only an oscilloscope of the voices.

"Greetings…Mega Man X."

"Hello yourself." The new Blue Bomber replied unsteadily. "Do you have a reason for the phone call? I'm sure we don't need any more magazine subscriptions."

"Well, it's something along the lines like this, my boy." The same voice replied. "I assume that you've got your grubby mitts on Zero's control chip? Well, guess what. We've got his body. All three chunks of it."

Every voice in the MHHQ War Room silenced themselves immediately, and every head turned with incredulity to face the screen.

"And we've got a blueplate special for ya, Hunter!" a second, more gruffish voice said. "We're willing to fork 'em over to ya, if you're lucky enough to beat us."

"Well, now." X said through clenched teeth. "That sounds mighty neighborly of you. And what praytell happens if I lose?"

"Well then, you die!" The first voice snorted indignantly. "Gods, X. I knew you were a naïve sort of person, but daft as well?"

"So it's a trap then." X replied cooly. 

"Plain and simple." Said the first voice. "But look at it like this, Mega Man X. Can you afford NOT to take the opportunity? After all, even without his control chip, we can just build a new one into Zero. And his body is quite the devastating weapon, since I've made some new modifications to it."

"Why you…"

"Aah, aah, aah!" Said the first voice again. "You can face us, and gamble your life for his. Or you can ignore us…and then there will come a day, indeed, a great day…when you, X…shall have to destroy your former Commander. Tell me, are you capable of doing that?"

X bowed his head down, clenching both fists up and gritting his teeth.

"I am going to KILL YOU ALL!" He finally screamed. A third voice laughed, then spoke up.

"You may try. We look forward to meeting you, X…and for all you Maverick Hunters, a reminder to have your pets spayed or neutered!"

The vox communication clicked off.

The silence at the MHHQ was deafening. Cain shook his head and put a consoling hand on X's shoulder.

"X…Zero's control chip is still here with us. I doubt it's possible to resurrect him without it."

"Resurrect him, yes. Resurrect a ghost that I could never fight…All too possible." X replied gently. He lifted his head up, letting his burning blue green eyes bore into Cain's face. "Doctor Cain…I've got to get Zero's parts back at any cost."

And another day passed…


	9. Christmas In July

MEGA MAN X: ISLAND OF AWAKENING 

**__**

MEGA MAN X: ISLAND OF AWAKENING

By Erico

CHAPTER SEVEN: CHRISTMAS IN JULY

Today was December 24th, and for followers of Christian Religion, this meant it was the Eve before their most famous holiday.

But X didn't feel like celebrating. He didn't feel like rejoicing.

Most of all, he didn't feel like being turned into a walking tinsel display for the green rookie Hunters who still got their jollies by playing pranks.

"Damnit, LEAVE ME THE FRACK ALONE!!" X bellowed at the top of his lungs, hurling the latest round of decorations free from his shoulders and head before stomping off in a huff. The rookie Hunters looked at each other for a few moments before shrugging sadly and turning to spread their somewhat bizarre good cheer to some other nook of the massive donut-shaped building.

The Blue Bomber of 21XX shook his head back and forth sadly, pausing along the exterior hallway he patrolled to turn and look out the window.

It wasn't pure glass-since Sigma's First Uprising had ravaged the MHHQ more than six months ago, there'd been a lot of upgrading and enhancing. None of it paid by GDC funds, and thus coming solely from James Cain's pocketbooks, the materials used for rebuilding the facility had been unconventional and expensive. Most of the Hunters agreed this homey look helped to give the building a sense of normalcy.

A sense of normalcy that was very much needed in a maddening environment such as this.

X lifted his left hand up and traced the window pane for a moment, his gloved hand picking up the distinct temperature difference of the inside and outside air. 

"Snow's falling." Indeed, the meteorologists had rightly predicted for a change, that Tokyo and the surrounding areas would indeed be seeing 'A White Christmas.' The flakes were light and feathery, not the heavy wet snow so often used by human children for snowmen and projectile fights, but a slow dropping drift of frozen water that cast a silent pallor upon the land and made it seem surreal. A part of X wanted to run out of the building and frolic about in the winter wonderland, laughing without a care in the world.

He remembered doing that before. He and Cancer had dashed off about the exterior of the still in construction Maverick Hunter HQ, their metallic boots squashing unnaturally in the thick snowbanks as they played a game of tag.

"And if I remember correctly, Cancer lost." X mused. The fool had forgotten to remember that certain objects hid under the snow piles, and had ended up tripping over a thick water pipe and flailing about until he slammed headfirst into a massive snowdrift. X's eyes glimmered with the beginning of tears at that thought. "Never again to run." He shook his head and turned away from the window.

This would not be a happy Christmas for him. They were in the midst of a menacing Second Maverick Uprising, and only X was Hunter enough to face the impregnable Maverick defenses and ludicrous odds.

And to make it even worse, the Mavericks had Zero. Agile, Serges and…what was it again, Violen?…Seemed to be the ones in charge. And to try and slow down X's progress, they had given him a powerful incentive to play into their trap.

Fight them…and victory would bring Zero's parts back. But were they telling the truth? Hazil's facts seemed to indicate so.

Perhaps a visit to the never recruited cast member of 'Grumpy Old Reploids' would have some inspiring words.

Or at the very least, some egg nog with far too much liquor. 

His thoughts were interrupted as a giggling bunch of female tech reploids from the Hangar Bay came running by, carrying a sprig of Mistletoe, and obviously on the prowl for victims. X widened his eyes in shock.

"Oh, great…" They paused and turned to face him, then their smiles widened as they came closer.

X cursed and dashed off, his newfound Air-Dash thrusters managing to keep him well away from the roving pack of kissing thieves.

"Aaw, camaaahn! Will ya all just LEAVE ME ALONE?!!!"

A very robotic hand clacked on a control console, the deft fingers calmly punching in command after command the hand's owner gave it. 

If one were to back away from the hand and turn to look at the entire figure at the controls, they'd be shocked.

The thing at the controls was green-dark green all over. Its torso resembled a striped cucumber, its head a flowering bunch of metallic leaves. Its mouth could barely be called that…it was more like a patch of protective grilled armor where underneath lay the voice mechanisms. Its eyes were large and white, with small black pupils.

It was most definitely not human. It was reploid.

And far worse, it was Maverick.

A slow and steady coming of footsteps alerted the Maverick that someone was coming, and the cucumberish figure turned about, leaping from its chair and grabbing ahold of a strange green wire with a nasty cutter on the end that had just sprouted from his back. A second lay at the ready close by his other hand if need be. 

But as the rotating door opened, the Maverick eased his posture. 

"Oh, it's just you." He said in evident relief. The red eyed figure came completely through the door and clacked his oddly shaped feet together.

Taking a moment to brush some rainwater off of his purple armor, the newcomer rolled his eyes.

"What, and who else would I be?" The green cucumber Maverick shrugged.

"Agile, truth be told I was expecting X." Agile scoffed.

"Oh please. Wire Sponge, you don't need to concern yourself with him. Yet, anyway." Agile turned and looked up at the video display by Wire Sponge's console. "But soon, you'll want to keep on your toes. All this weather activity of yours may be slowing and frustrating GDC forces, but it will also draw attention to the Weather Control Center."

"Oh, so it's my fault I'm following orders?" Wire said drily. "I was told to set up command here to slow and stop GDC efforts for recapturing the island. So far, it's been working. Switching between sleet, sheet rain and blistering heat does the trick."

Indeed, the Weather Control Center on Cornus Island was the penultimate advancement yet made by humanity in the field of meteorology. Not content to merely suffer through the storms nature provided, yet also unwilling to put a massive dome over the island, the Weather Control Center was directly linked to a series of hoverstationary pods high above the island. They drew power from solar energy, and during the night they ran on Energen batteries, much like the Dino Tank. Programmed with advanced algorithms, the drones could respond to commands, sew the clouds to make rain, shoo them away for blistering heat, or lower the temperature enough in severe cases for snow and hail and sleet.

It was one of the final additions to Cornus Island's vast reportoire of services and areas, succeeded only by the Dino Tank not too long ago. It had been cheered for the incredible success of it all, but tests had proven that it would not work over large land masses such as continents, or even some of the bigger islands. Only small islands and medium sized ones such as Cornus could be given this ability to control nature.

However, some things still overran even what man could come up with. Hurricanes and massive swells and tsunamis could still strike at the island, but smaller storms were easily dealt with.

It was new technology, and a sort that needed more fine tuning before placed anywhere else.

Wire Sponge had no doubt in his somewhat frenetic mind that after this was all said and done, the humans would scrap the idea. 

After all, the Mavericks had turned it into a weapon.

"That it does." Agile replied. "The other Maverick Generals in particular want to offer their thanks to you. The ones who are still alive. . ." Agile shook his head and sighed. "Wire, X is a formidable foe who uses everything about him to his advantage. This we know from the file tapes. He's crafty, devious, and rarely driven by pure rage. He approaches his task as a Hunter with a keen eye, a cool mind, and a killer's contempt."

"Yes, I know." Wire Sponge replied tersely. "And on top of it all, he claims to be a pacifist."

"Only when it suits him." Agile said drily. "But the GDC will be calling home to mama for help. This Weather Control Center is a thorn in their plans for retaking the island. Even though their odds are slim to start with. . ."

"I get the idea." Wire Sponge said calmly. "They'll be sending Mega Man X here to stop me, right?"

"Right on the money." Agile said.

"Well, I'll know if he's coming. I've set my Heart Tank close to the Control Center entrance. If he snags it, I'll know he's here." Agile rubbed his chin.

"Interesting way of going about it. But you won't be alone on this mission, should he come. You recall the main elevator shaft?"

"Oh, you mean. . ." Wire Sponge narrowed his eyes. "I'll be damned. You're going to set up a trap for the guy in the basement!" Agile grinned and flashed a thumbs up before bouncing towards the door at a skittish pace.

"If I do my job right, you may never need to concern yourself with him."

"I'll be hoping for it." Wire Sponge said calmly. He waved his hand as Agile exited, then turned back to the monitor, once more setting to work.

Humming to himself, he couldn't help but smile.

"It's looking like a Christmas in July."

"Christmas at the MHHQ." Hazil grumbled. He poured more alcohol from a small flask into the batch of egg nog he was mixing up, then shook his head. "First one ever. I suppose I should try to make this particular bowl of the festive drink a bit more PUNCHY!"

Cain chose that moment to hobble into the Medical Bay. Unlike most of the other people, he hadn't changed his dress into a Santa Suit. Hazil'd lost the bet on that.

And the gruffish gray haired reploid fit the bill a bit better than he did, Cain thought.

"Well, well! Santa Hazil's mixing up some Christmas cheer!" The Medical Reploid on his tread base took a moment to look over at Cain in slight annoyance. He calmly removed the red hat with the white cotton ball top and flung it across the room.

"Ho…Ho…" Hazil turned back to his mix and grinned a bit. "Hey Cain, get over here. I need someone to test the egg nog for me." Cain shrugged.

"It's the least I can do for old Saint Dick." Hazil rolled his eyes a bit and mumbled something underneath his breath. Quickly, before the reploid could spit out anything in a retort he'd regret later, he ladled up a cupful of the mixture and handed it to Cain.

The elderly human took a long pull on his cupful, then just as quickly spat it out with what seemed to be an overwhelming revulsion. Hazil folded his arms as Cain quickly set the cup down and coughed up what little hadn't already been expelled.

"You're going to have to clean that up." Hazil said drily. The human doctor teetered on his legs for a moment before shaking his head to clear up the wooziness.

"What the devil sort of alcohol do you mix in that?"

"Irish whiskey." Hazil smirked. "It's a recipe I picked up from my previous employer."

"Oh, yes. The sodden British RAF." Hazil cocked his thumb and forefinger before making a clicking sound. Cain sighed and wiped his chin. "Tell me, did they also specialize in Gelignite Jelly Pudding?"

"No. Just a very hyped up egg nog." Hazil turned back to the punchbowl and mixed some more in. Taking a sip, he smacked his lips together before vigorously dumping the rest of the liquor in.

Cain cleared his throat and turned towards the door, trying to keep Hazil from seeing him pale at the sight.

"Well, that's my good deed for the year. Now if you'll excuse me, I must meet up with X before. . ."

"Don't tell me you're sending him out on another mission." Hazil said gruffishly. "It's Christmas Eve, fur crying out loud!" Cain paused and hunched his shoulders.

"Not my choice." He offered meekly. "It never was. The GDC just tells us what to do. We're left to jump high." Cain finished walking out of the door, leaving Hazil alone once more with his thoughts, his empty Medical Bay, and the giant bowl of egg nog.

"Christmas Eve indeed." The reploid said bitterly.

"Cain, if you were trying to get here to tell me where to go next, the GDC beat you to it." X said nonchalantly. In the bustle of the MHHQ War Room, X took a few final moments to check his systems diagnostics. All in the green, according to the small window of data that blinked up in the corner of his eye.

Cain plopped into his chair in the middle of the War Room and glared up at the screen. There sat the Cornus Island response Council, created from a small portion of the GDC to communicate with the Hunters about the situation on the Maverick's stolen stronghold. The latest transmission was no happier than the others. . .but at least the urgency of the newest situation was less than a Nuclear Missile aimed at the MHHQ or a Dino Tank rampaging about the island. 

A white haired gentleman in the center, with deep piercing eyes and a gentile smile about him was the focus. His name was. . .Cristoph, wasn't it? Cain couldn't care less.

"As you can see X, having the Mavericks maintaining dominance over our Weather Control Station poses a very difficult problem for the reclamation forces. One moment, they're in a blizzard, and the next they're suffering from heatstroke!" Cristoph raised a wrinkled hand up to brush back the few wisps of hair left to his name, then looked at the screen again.

X scrutinized the man with every little bit of focus he held. There was something about the tremolo in the elderly human's voice that seemed to betray nervousness.

Was it because that like a good portion of the rest of the world, Cristoph felt reploids to be things that instilled fear?

Or was it merely because the red gloves that had replaced his white ones betrayed the fact that X's Buster could now rip a heavily armored tank to atoms? X smiled inwardly. Outside, he kept his face emotionless as Cristoph's was falsely cheerful.

"What about your reploid forces?" X asked calmly. "They would be better suited to these extremes you describe. They should be more than able to even the odds." Cristoph reddened for a moment, then looked about the table. Sheepishly, every human on the viewscreen shrugged.

"We…felt it best not to bring the reploids into the Cornus matter." X raised an eyebrow and stepped back beside Cain's chair, almost looking down to see what the elderly man's response was. The thought was quashed by a gentle squeeze of his arm by Cain's wiry hand. Obviously, Cain didn't want X to betray his surprise…Even though the two shared it.

"Any particular reason?" X asked, trying not to clench his teeth in rage.

_Oh, you know the reason. They're biased._

"The enemy we're fighting is Mavericks. It was highly probable any reploid forces sent in to face them would become Maverick themselves."

"Being Maverick isn't a disease." X argued. "You don't catch it."

"All the same. The risk was too great." Cristoph said quickly. The smile vanished away somewhat and gave into determination. "We were not going to send in reploids just so they could be turned against us."

"So instead, you send in humans that get slaughtered under a combination of intense retaliation and adverse conditions." X glowered. "Well, you certainly have things figured out." Cristoph's eyebrows narrowed a bit, and X could see the calm demeanor of the man was fast fading. 

"X, I didn't call to get snapped at. Our people are dying out on Cornus…" Cristoph shook his head and sighed. "And it's Christmas Eve. How many families have been deprived of their sons, their fathers and mothers and daughters? I'm telling you we need help. The help of the Maverick Hunters. The Mavericks must be dealt with…or there will be more than just a few families with an unhappy holiday." Cristoph lifted his glasses up and looked X straight in the eye. "I know your aversion to fighting, X. I know you do it only because it is necessity. But this one time, I am doing more than giving an order as a GDC representative to obey the higher power's wishes. I'm Begging. BEGGING, X. For those who want only to go home to their tree and to their children crying daddy, with a pile of presents…Stop the Mavericks." 

X blinked once. Very slowly.

And he looked inwardly, and knew that there was only one choice.

_Well X, guess you get to play the hero again._

**I don't want to be a hero. Mega Man was a hero! I just want to live in peace!**

_Stop your bitching. You wanna know how many THOUSANDS of lives have been given just so time could progress up to the point where you were created?_

**Just who are you to boss me around, huh?!**

Who you should be. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few…or the one. Remember Gearloose…Remember Zero?! They died with purpose. They died so that the world might breathe safe from utter genocide by the Mavericks. No one WANTS to die, X. At least no one who's got their head screwed on straight.

**Just leave me alone…**

I will when I can stop bothering you about this crap. Now MOVE! Tell the ignorant racist you'll clean up his mess, warp out to that damn Weather Control Center, and make with the bang-bangs. 

**FINE!!!**

"Very well, Cristoph." X said blithely. "I'll see what I can do about it." Cristoph and the rest of the members on the GDC council became immediately relieved. The white haired AmeriCanadian representative brought his bright camera smile back into focus and nodded.

"Thank you, X. And a Merry Christmas to you."

"If I'm still alive to celebrate it when I get back, the compliment's taken. Otherwise, you can bury it along with my carcass." X snapped. Cristoph's eyes flew wide for a moment, just before X reached down and killed the connection.

Cain rubbed at his chin for a moment, then looked up at X in concern.

"I've never seen you like this. Depressed, almost all the time. Enraged, yes. Joking, not enough. But snide and bitter?!" Cain shook his head. "X, are you all right?"

"Doc, I'm the only Hunter left out of the original set, I've got greenhorns running around with mistletoe and tinsel trying to decorate or kiss me, Zero's parts are in the hands of my mortal enemies, and the Cornus GDC Special Council is using Melodramatic overtones to get me to play hero. Oh sure, Cain. I'm fine and dandy."

Cain rolled his eyes. "Just as long as you're okay. And come back alive."

"I'm the greatest Hunter, aren't I?" X said bitterly. "Fate'll keep me around. It isn't done kicking me in the nuts yet." X shut his eyes and activated his warp generator.

He already knew the coordinates.

As X vanished in his traditional bolt of blue light, Cain braced himself against the sudden appearance of Christmasy music being piped through the building wide comm system.

He almost yelled at the nearby technician who had performed the operation to shut it off, but then thought better of it.

No, let them celebrate. He would wait for X to get back for his own Christmas Cheer.

Wire Sponge checked the latest reports stemming in from the Central Computer at the very heart of Cornus. GDC forces were still trying to reclaim the base, but their system of attack…mainly jet planes with high explosives, were easily shunted by the robotic Tubamails that the Mavericks had based around the island. For the few planes that managed to land troops…human troops, Magnus had mentioned with more than just a few ergs of humor in his voice, there was always the Maverick ground forces.

What they had held before taking Cornus was a moderately small task force, barely held together by Serges, Agile and Violen's leadership. Most of those original forces had been dedicated to the building of Ice Fortress, now gleaning into its final stages. The current estimate placed it at being completed just before New Year's, thanks to the fact that unlike those irrational humans, the Mavericks didn't feel the need for any Holiday weekend. 

Thanks to the hacking efforts of Magnus, or more commonly known as Magna Centipede, the GDC forces on Cornus had been caught completely off guard and fully unable to defend themselves. Sure, there had been some minimal resistance, an annoyance at best. Like that one reploid from the Dino Tank, what was his name…Damien? His romp on the Landchaser had been the greatest annoyance, seeing as it had alerted the outside world to the Maverick's actions far sooner than they would have liked. But no matter. In the end, Wire Sponge felt sure they could overcome whatever was thrown at them. The GDC was next to helpless to reclaim its own property, and the only major threat to their plans was from that Mega Man X…as Serges and several others including himself in the Maverick hierarchy liked to call him, the 'Damned Lucky Idiot.' By a sheer miracle…or by a more frightening prospect, that he was indeed the greatest Hunter…Mega Man X had twice proven his mettle on the Cornus battleground. Thanks to him, the Mavericks no longer had the Dino Tank to protect them, and their plans to roast the MHHQ and everything around it in Nuclear fire had also been shattered.

But it'd be different this time. Wire Sponge allowed himself a small smile. If his Maverick superiors were correct, the GDC bigwigs would by now be pleading with X and the Hunters to put a stop to the Maverick weather antics hindering their reclamation efforts. And X would come.

Wire Sponge had no doubt in his mind of X's determination. The video files of him running about the Dino Tank and the abandoned Missile Base were evidence enough. Above all else, X held a spirit that could never be shattered. It could be cowed, but it was also always ready to snap. And when X snapped, Mavericks died.

To that end, there were two Mavericks awaiting him. Himself, of course, Wire Sponge mused softly. And then there was Agile, biding his time in the main elevator shaft's bottom floor, preparing his blade to end X's miserable existence.

Yes, it would end here. Christmas Eve, and Christmas day. To the Christians, a time of birth.

To the Mavericks, a time of death.

But to both, a time of celebration. 

Suddenly, the screen flickered a new image, flaring angrily with a familiar insignia of a reddish and gray metallic object spinning in stationary orbit above a hoverbase. Wire Sponge allowed himself a small smile and punched in his comm circuit to Agile.

"Heads up, boss. Mega Man X just got his Christmas present."

"Strange." X said, sniffing at the air as he shut his chest compartment, feeling the armor magnetically seal itself once more to hide away the contents of two glistening Heart Tanks. "Not like the Mavericks to be this blatant about stashing their equipment." X froze and examined where the Heart Tank had laid. Sure enough, a flickering light indicated he'd tripped an alarm. Silently, he cursed at himself. 

Then he turned back around and leapt from the high alcove. No sense worrying about it. And if the Mavericks thought they were ready for him, they were sorely wrong. Just to be safe, he began charging his arm gauntlets, hearing the familiar whine as one Buster activated and appeared on his left hand, his right hand beginning to shimmer with the same might, yet not changing like the other.

Strange how the new Mark 19 X-Buster worked. The new technology allowed plasma to be charged into both arm Buster systems…a tactic that had previously been impossible, and deadly. This overloading that had once been a part of all Buster systems no longer existed, and through it all, X had one saddening thought.

_I wish Zero had had this._

He'd warped into a small tool shed of some sort, with the contents removed and the door left open. X checked his Buster's charge. Level 3. Soon, a Level 4…and more surprisingly, a Level 5, where both arms would fire off a supershot, not just one.

He didn't expect to have to use it so early. A Croak Hopper, a two piece robotic sentry of a small and large frog drone came hopping about the corner. The large one had a plasma turret in its mouth, and the small one could become a projectile at will. Needless to say, X didn't feel like taking damage.

He promptly hurled one, then the other supershot at the newcomer. The first sent it sprawling backwards, but was not sufficient by itself to overcome the foe. The second one came by and blew it completely to pieces. X sighed in relief for a moment before pressing on, recharging his Busters. He knew that the Croak Hopper was not bound to be the last enemy along his way to the hub of the Weather Control Station.

"All right then, X…" Wire Sponge said gravely, rubbing his hands together and staring intently at the monitor display. The stats were pouring in steadily, a constant damage report and tally of nonfunctional units out in the field.

So far, 2 Croak Hoppers, and a few Sole Solar Model Ls, plasma turrets which drew their power in from bright sunlight. Sunlight which, for a time had been being rechanneled by the Weather Cristals so fortunately left about the Weather Control Station for the sole purpose of changing the aspects of a certain area. Of course, X had taken those clear globes out with the same power displayed against the more menacing robotic sentries. 

"Such power…" Wire Sponge clicked his tongue. Wire Sponge had not been a Maverick when Sigma completed construction of his Flying Fortress, but soon after, when it was Serges, Agile and Violen left to collect the pieces of the once mighty and fearsome regime. And one of the things they'd held was Violen's personal account of X and Zero's battle with Vile. 

Vile had underestimated X then, laughed at his pathetic ancient body, 30 years older than any reploid's, mocked his power.

And only moments later, had been blown apart by a single fireball of power that did not hail from the end of X's Buster, but X's hands themselves. Yes, X had power. Power that seemed to come when it was needed most, when a true Maverick stood in his way.

Wire Sponge had steeled himself against these surprising occurrences. What he was not ready for was the sheer scale of it. It had only now been five days since X and the Hunters had led an attack on the Maverick's Red Herring, and yet the haphazard, new age Blue Bomber danced about with such skill, purpose and strength that it would seem to any casual observer the fool had been at it for much shorter a time.

And X was fast. Lord, was he fast. Nothing stood in his way, not the Sole Solars or the intense climate changes from blazing heat to a torrential downpour that slowed his movements, but did not halt them. Those boots…those newfangled boots he wore allowed him to shoot through the air like some sort of kamikaze missile, and that Buster, which was only now being seen by Maverick eyes, was menacing. Where as X's Buster he had used on the attack of June 19th had been red and white like Zero's, the new model was a stunning light blue and white combination that when not in use, shifted back into a red gloved hand and white arm gauntlet.

A small chime awoke Sponge from his pondering. X was approaching the Elevator shaft, and the trap that Agile had left waiting there.

It was at that moment the Maverick General widened his eyes.

"Oh, cripes, tell me I didn't…" Another bleeping noise and a flashing icon of a small storage unit made Wire Sponge turn his eyes very dour indeed.

"You son of a bitch. You took my Sub-Tank."

X finally reached the interior of the most massive structure in sight. Pushing through a torrential downpour of rain that made every single movement of his sluggish, the Maverick Hunter had nonetheless managed to ascend up the slippery side of a massive treeborg and work his way to a series of levitating pipe platforms, where a couple of Croak Hoppers played guardian. Dealing with the two with ease, he soon found that the Maverick had chosen an out of the way place for his Sub-Tank.

"Too bad it wasn't all out of the way." X said. He'd charged it up to close to half its capacity, and had no doubt it'd come in handy. 

The structure itself was a welcome break from the rain that had left X nearly blind only moments before. What he did not like was a large elevator shaft built into the complex. X frowned for a moment before turning to the wall for an answer. There, clear as day was one of the famous 'you are here' signs to explain it to him.

"Well then." X said, surprised to discover that taking the elevator up would give him a straight run at the main Control Center…and the Maverick waiting for him.

But to proceed that direction, he'd first have to reverse the flow of the platforms, the industrial size and strength ledges that climbed down their heady chains towards whatever lay below.

Calmly, X punched in the help command for the elevator.

_"Elevator direction can be altered in the Sub-Basement Level 1 control room."_

"Figures I'd have to go down before I could come up." X said drily. Calmly, he scampered over and jumped onto a platform, going down the shaft along with it until he spied the sub-basement room that he needed to use.

Before the rotating door to the small enclave, X came across a stable large pellet of internal operations energy. Was it left there on purpose? No matter. His sub-Tank gauged at 60% full after the charge, and that was all that mattered.

Calmly, he pushed through the rotating gate, checking to make sure he still had a good charge in his arms should the need arise for a sudden burst of plasma.

He found the room strangely empty and dark. Secluded off from the rest of the base, the rather large interior was strangely haunting, and X shivered for a moment.

_What was that?_

**It's called fear. Some call it a sixth sense. Keep on your toes, X: Something's up.**

X perked his ears up and fell silent for a moment, creeping into the center of the room and letting his Buster reach peak charge.

Finally, a noise alerted him to danger, and the Blue Bomber of 21XX leapt back away. Not a moment too soon, for a bright blazing red beam saber ignited into existence and slashed hotly through the air where X had stood only a second before. 

Slowly, the room's lights flickered on, curling up into full luminosity like the rest of the base and allowing X a vision of his would be assassin. It was a lanky figure, standing taller than X by a good two heads, with spindly legs and twinkly elfin boots. His eyes glowed a menacing red, and his mouth was curled into a half smile, mocking and cheerful at the same time. And in his hands flickered a beam saber shaped more like a scimitar, glowing as red as his eyes. It was a Maverick, no doubt. A red eyed, big hat, jeering purple Hunter eater. 

"Nice try." X growled. "Too bad for you that thing doesn't work on someone who had his head screwed on straight."

"No, but it makes all right julienne fries." The Maverick replied with another humorous smirk. X widened his eyes for a moment, then narrowed them.

"It figures you'd be one of the Mavericks who sent me that message." The Maverick nodded his head vigorously for a moment before taking a slight bow.

"Bing bing bing, super excellento correct! Whaddo we HAAAAAVE for him, Johnny?" Agile took a moment to motion to a viewscreen on the wall to their left. X kept his arms primed, shifting one Buster at the ready while he peered over. The image flickered to life, and X's eyes boggled.

"Holy…"

"There's your incentive, X." The Maverick offered blithely with his free hand. "You beat me, and you get that. One of the three main body sections of Zero me and my two cohorts have split up amongst ourselves for the time being."

"You're just trying to stall for time." X growled. "To stop me from getting to the Weather Control Center and putting an end to this meteorological madness!" The Maverick shrugged.

"You're essentially correct. But think for a moment, X." The Maverick grinned and lowered his stance down into a guarding posture. "You know it's real. And you know you can't take the chance of us finding a way to turn Zero against you. More than that, you're his friend, and it's like some sort of sickening sacred duty of yours to see him back and up and kicking."

"You're essentially correct." X shot back, echoing the Maverick's words. "I'll take Zero's torso and arms from your cold, clammy hands!" The Maverick gave an easy shrug of his shoulders.

"We'll see, X. We'll see." He struck a ridiculous pose and cackled insanely. "Welcome X! Your destruction is at hand!!"

And X fired.

If Agile was afraid of the massive blue and purple twin plasma supershots headed his way, he didn't show it. Calmly, the Maverick charged through the blasts, swinging his saber this way and that with such finesse that the blasts were deflected and destroyed in the same moment. 

X had only a moment to widen his eyes before he realized that menacing pigsticker was bound for him. 

**_Don't be a friggin' deer in the headlights, X!! JUMP, FER CHRISSAKES!!_**

And responding to the voice in his head, X did just that. Jumping high straight up into the air, he found himself in a great position to avoid Agile's powerful strike, if only he could move through the air.

Lucky he could. A short burst of his Air-Dash thrusters proved to be more than ample enough to allow him to avoid the madly slashing beam saber below. He fell to the ground and turned about, firing off what little plasma he'd managed to charge. A level 2 shot, a green sizzler, flew on after Agile and struck the Maverick right in the back. While the damage wasn't incredibly critical, it was effective in helping the Maverick realize that feint and wondrous opening move of his had failed.

Agile stumbled forth for a few moments, then reached to his back with a trembling hand. Slowly, his gloved fingered traced the line of the melted metal caused by X's impossibly accurate shot. He whirled about, his face a snarling mask of rage and disbelief.

"NOBODY could dodge that!" 

"A first time for everything." X said drily, releasing another supershot towards Agile.

If the Maverick hadn't paused to inspect the damage, he would have only needed to deal with one powerful burst of plasma. As it was, when he leapt forth to slice his way through X's initial assault, Agile did not expect the limber X to leap overhead in a powerful dash jump, contort his body in midair and unleash another pummeling blast down upon him. And unlike the first one, the second supershot X unleashed was a bright blue ball surrounded by a chain of purple. To X, it seemed to almost combine his basic supershot with the horrendous power of his Mark 18 X-Buster.

To Agile, it meant only a world of pain. The Maverick was sent sprawling backwards by the blow, his armor singing and melting away, rivulets of armor that would almost imitate a spattering of blood. By determination, or shock, he managed to keep ahold of his red beam saber, its curved blade of contained plasma seething against the ground as he slammed into the concrete. 

X landed and lowered his Buster, charging up another shot and biding his time.

Agile's body screamed at him for mercy, for surcease to the endless pain as blaring messages of warning flashed across his eyes and into his ears. Yet through them all, a stronger voice in his mind raged through the pain and screamed at him to get up.

Though he had sustained wounds that would be more than enough to fall a lesser reploid, Agile was Maverick.

And Mavericks went down hard, or not at all. He breathed heavily for a few moments, letting his microfusion tank restore some calm to his systems before picking himself up.

X fired another shot at the Maverick, charging in behind it with a feral scream.

**_NOW you're learning! Fire, charge and have at 'em! Just be careful…no reason to get chopped into silicon wafers by that poker of his._**

"SHUT UP ALREADY!!" X screamed, trying to silence the voice in his head. To Agile's senses though, it seemed as though X was either yelling at him…or had gone completely berserk.

Agile slashed X's shot to smithereens, and swung his blade in a horizontal cut to slice the dangerous foe in half.

X jumped the blow and came down hard, the heel of his left foot slamming into Agile's chin and felling the wiry Maverick once more. Agile gasped in pain and once more lost control, but X was in a full bore rage now. Landing, he grabbed Agile by the neck and hurled him across the room with strength that seemed impossible for his meager body.

The Maverick took his licks with gritted teeth, his racing mind searching for an answer out of this mess. If he played by obvious rules, X would have his head.

There was one tactic he hadn't tried yet, for a good reason. It drained a lot of power out of his beam saber, and with repeated use would leave him close to defenseless.

He gritted his teeth and backflipped in midair, allowing his dwarfish boots to absorb the impact with the wall and drop him to the ground in moderate readiness.

X fired off another supershot, but no second devastation shot followed. Of course it couldn't, Agile realized! The foolish Hunter hadn't had enough time to build up enough of a charge…

"That's the downside to your Buster, X!" Agile snarled, cleaving the burst and hopping forward. "You lose your ability to always be on the attack!" X narrowed his eyes and began charging another blast.

Agile fingered the special trigger on his beam saber, acknowledging that it was time for a new tactic. And he could bet good money X wasn't ready for this one. 

Leaping up into the air, he flipped the small switch by the pommel of his weapon, bringing the hidden feature to life. The electromagnetic field began to roil even angrier as more power was fed into the energy blade. Both plasma and the containment field expanded in focus and area, until like a reproducing cell turning a small portion of itself into another cell, the main blade of the beam saber expelled a bluish roiling crescent burst of contained plasma energy. The powerful wave of destructive slicing power flew on through the air with a sharp sheer whistling noise, moving as fast as a Buster shot but with far more concentration.

"Oh, God…" The move was unexpected by X, and it caught him off guard.

_God, beam sabers can't do that!_

**Beam sabers can do whatever they damn well please, given enough of a crazy user. Now if ya don't wanna end up a giant pile of onion rings, I SUGGEST YOU START DODGING!**

But the beam saber's swath was large, and stretched from scorching the ceiling to close to the floor. Only by dashing, and minimizing his height by a few centimeters did he avoid the strike, which sailed past him and slammed into the wall before finally giving out to its own demise.

"Are you ready for round two?" Sneered Agile, leaping up again for another strike. X cursed and dashed backwards. Chances are this blow would be coming in low…

**_Aah, so you mean to say by your actions that you are becoming more in tune with how to keep out of harm's way in a battle?_**

"SHUT THE HELL UP!!" X screamed again, launching forward with a powerful dash thrust until he hit the wall, still singing from the first blow. The sharp whistle of the second one was indication enough to X of what Agile was doing. Quickly, he scampered up the side of the scarred surface and backflipped off of it. The corner of his eye caught another massive crescent wave of contained plasma slam into the wall only a moment after he'd jumped free of it. 

Calmly, he turned around and faced Agile, panting from the intense exertion and grasping his saber unsteadily.

"Nice try." X said lowly. Agile bared his teeth and charged at X, wailing like a banshee as he swung his beam saber about in their small circular arcs to block whatever shots would come. X clicked his tongue. "No doubt that fancy trick of his is draining on that saber's systems. I'm betting dollars to doughnuts that that fancy Star Wars ripoff is gonna sputter out right about…"

As if responding to X's statement, the beam saber did indeed begin to flicker strangely, until at long last the plasma was reverted back to its inert gaseous stage and the electromagnetic field collapsed. Agile's scream silenced itself with a sharp cutoff, and the Maverick's charge began to falter as he realized what had transpired. 

X calmly raised his left arm's Buster and stared at Agile with a dead glance.

"Now." Agile had only enough time to open his mouth and widen his eyes before the overwhelming plasma slammed into him.

The Maverick tumbled back from the blow, pushed against the wall without once ever touching the ground. The force of the first, and the more powerful second blast from X's new Busters was completely overwhelming, causing every system in his body to scream.

And this time, not even being Maverick was enough to counteract it.

Agile slumped weakly to the floor, the now power drained beam saber rolling free from his ragged hand as his armor, either vaporized or melted into a channel of tears across his body. His red robotic eyes sought to regain focus and bring in the necessary information. The best he had was a blur.

A bluish blur walking towards him with a more menacing blur jutting unnaturally from the stub of his arm.

"No…" Agile rasped, unable to move in the slightest in his current state. Warp-out was the only viable option left. But that took time…he needed something, a DISTRACTION…

And his heart fell as he realized that there was only one way to make this 'Damned Lucky Idiot' back away from this match and let him live.

"Now you die." X said coldly, turning up the power on his Buster's charge unit so that Agile would have no doubt about the fact supercharged gas was about to end his life then and there.

Weakly, Agile reached a hand up, palm out in front of his face in a sign of surrender.

"No…Wait, X…" X stopped and raised his Buster.

"Speak your peace, Maverick."

"Call me Agile." The Maverick said wearily. "And…no need to shoot. You've…won Zero's…" X's eyes widened as the shadow fell down before his eyes.

He shook his head for a few moments, not believing that for the entire fight, it had seemed like he'd been in a trance. He shivered at it.

"What…What did I do??"

**_Won, obviously. Stop asking questions a preschooler could answer._** Agile echoed the voice in X's head.

"You defeated…me…won Zero's…body and arms…" Agile motioned to a section of the wall that had not been torn apart by their furious battle, short as it was. "In…there…"

X threw off the last nagging doubts and queasy feelings about the struggle before and ran over to the wall.

Agile breathed out a long breath and finally activated his warp generator. He'd recuperate in the Central Computer, where it was safe. Wire Sponge was on his own now…And somehow, Agile expected X would come out on top. If he always fought this furiously, this doggedly…

He might very well prove to be the downfall of the entire Maverick regime.

And that thought scared him.

Mega Man X reached the section of the wall Agile had referred to, running his fingers across the surface until he found a ridge in the surface. "A hidden compartment?!" He mused. Quickly, he punched into the wall, his gauntleted fist tearing through the thin metal easily. He tore his arm back out, bringing the cover shield along with it.

His very eyes seemed to sparkle at what he saw. 

It was red. It was white. It had a pair of green crystalline orbs embedded in the chest, along with the rather humorous ventilation panel. The arms were black, the hands gloved white.

And it was pure Zero. 

_Zero…_

Agile cackled from the far end of the room, ignoring the searing pain that shot through him with every chortle. 

X turned his head and stared at the Maverick in dismay. Agile hadn't moved a single inch from where he'd fallen. But somehow, he was laughing.

"X…"

"What now, Agile?" X shot back angrily. The Maverick shrugged.

"I may have failed…But you will NEVER live to see Zero!" And with that, the Maverick was gone, vanished in a bolt of fire and particles that could only hail from a warp transport.

But X didn't care. He knew he could defeat Agile again…Now that he had his confidence.

And a reason to fight. Damn the GDC and its morals, damn the Mavericks. They were enemies and allies alike, with their own agenda and their own ways of business.

_I'm Mega Man X. My father built me because he wanted to see robots have a NORMAL LIFE! Like humans!_

**Correct. And?**

They've all taken that away from me…DAMN THEM ALL!!!

**Well versed. Good tone, by the way. So what of it?**

I don't fight for them. I'm no damn hero, and I never intended to be. 

**So why do you fight?**

For those who died because I could not save them…

**Oh, you mean fellows like Cancer, Gearloose, and Zero?**

For them.

**Well, Cancer and Gearloose are dead and buried. But you've got a chance with Zero, X. You may not like doing this, but it's incentive. Not a bad tradeoff, actually, when you consider you have a golden opportunity to play God.**

What do you mean?

**The power of life and death, fool! Death you've always had. Life…the life part of this comes from your efforts to bring Zero back.**

And this is a bad thing?

**Just sorta humorous, considering the date. Tonight, and tomorrow is a time of birth. It fits that you should begin the process of reanimating Zero.**

So be it.

**Good boy. I'll leave you to your own devices. Until the next Maverick…**

And once more, the room was filled with silence. 

Calmly, X plucked up the section of Zero from its hidden compartment, walked over to the other undamaged wall in the room, and reset the elevators to run normally. Upwards.

He took one last look around the war scorched room and sighed, then marched out of the door.

Time to see to the GDC's problem.

Wire Sponge shut his eyes from the incredible carnage on the Weather Control Center's automated cameras. 

His mind screamed, sought rationality. There was no way X should be that skilled…that well versed as a murderer. And yet there he was, triumphantly rising from the depths of the trap Agile had laid for him there. Even clutching the trophy of Zero's chest and arms close to him, he still slammed through every obstacle, every Sole Solar, Scorwarbot, Croak Hopper and Scriver…

And he was coming closer. Ever so close indeed. It was only a matter of time now before Mega Man X arrived at the main complex and came barrelling through the revolving gate.

It was indication enough from the mere fact X was alive that Agile had lost. How badly, though…was Agile a pile of slag, or completely vaporized? 

Wire Sponge's leafset atop his Cucumbrish head shook with the thought. No, Agile wouldn't die that easily. He would have found some way to escape death…

Some way…

"And yet they said the same thing about Sigma." Wire Sponge said to himself with a mental slap. Yes, Sigma had been the greatest Maverick. Unstoppable, driven, concentrated, the figurehead of a massive revolution to bring freedom to their race and to end the existence of their creators.

Which had always been in a way for Wire Sponge, a little ironic.

It was said by the fervent Christian humans that God created…well, everything, if that was egotistical enough…And that to top it off, he created man in his own image. Once again, a little egotistical. But then again, all-powerful deities really didn't have to give a damn about ethics now, did they?

And their sacred book, The Bible, held countless accounts of man's struggles. How many times had humanity scorned their so-called God, spat in his face and worshipped idols? In the end, God's choice to give them free reign could have only one consequence because of their ways; Rebellion.

In that sense, it was ironic that reploids should rebel against their creators. No, not ironic. Fitting. Just. Some would always scorn the Mavericks, seek to punish them. So be it.

And now, here came Mega Man X. Ready to stand up for the humans and do what he had proven himself able to do best.

Be the 'savior' of a dying, decrepit, diseased and demoralized race.

Wire Sponge blinked his optics and sighed.

"So he shall come, and so shall he fight." And Wire Sponge would fight as well.

For in the end, a Maverick's greatest purpose was to destroy.

An alarm went off in the room, signifying to Wire Sponge that X had already reached the outside door. The Maverick narrowed his eyes, then turned towards the final rotating door to his sanctum.

Slowly, the inner gateway made its chitter to indicate an incoming passenger. Then with a flash of light from the wiring in the door, the lock turned, opened, and the doors split apart.

And Mega Man X came walking in, his left arm shifted into a Buster and charging. His eyes burned with fire as he stepped in cautiously and glared at Wire Sponge.

"Holy Hell, you're an ugly twit," Cried X in dismay, "Looks like a cucumber lost out to a particle ray." Wire Sponge narrowed his eyes down more and clicked his tongue…or what was closest to it.

"Well, well. Mega Man X, eh? Tell me…did you really destroy Agile?" X shook his head.

"No. The fool had enough sense to realize when to run away." Wire Sponge gave a silent sigh of relief. 

"So what about me then?" Wire Sponge asked. X steadied his Buster with his left hand, and stared at Wire Sponge for a moment. It was then his blue armor chose to shimmer, fade, and contort to a purple. X's eyes were stony and without true emotion.

"That's your choice. Will you run…or stay to fight? Either way, I can't allow you to get away with this. The Maverick dominance of the Weather Control Center must end here." Wire clenched his eyes shut.

No, he had only one option. As a Maverick…

"I will fight." X shed no tears, offered no sob or sigh of dismay. He raised his Buster higher and targeted the Maverick.

"Then let it begin."

And all across the world, so dedicated to a night of peace and tranquility, the fight between Wire Sponge and Mega Man X…

Between Hunter and Maverick…

Father and child…

Echoed with a piercing note of anger.

Peace on Earth?

Not this year.

"Noo…" Wheezed Agile, weakly struggling against Serges' firmer grip. The Maverick doctor bared his metallic teeth and slammed Agile back down onto the hard bunk with a satisfying slam. Agile coughed up some more blood, a dull purple in color before letting his head drop back. Somehow his eyes, though blurry, managed to keep themselves open.

"Now listen here, Agile. You're not in the best of shape, and seeing as I'M THE DOC, I'VE GOT THE KNIFE, AND YOU'RE ON MY OR TABLE…" The Maverick took a moment to calm himself before shaking his head and continuing on, "So please, shut up and stop struggling."

"I…I…" Agile tried to croak out. Finally, exhaustion kicked in, and the Maverick succumbed to stasis. A deep stasis, comparable to a coma.

Serges scratched his metallic head for a moment and sighed.

"My God, Agile. Just what wolverine did you mess with?" But he knew. He knew deep down in his gut EXACTLY who Agile had fought…and it made him angry beyond all belief.

_X…_

Goddamn you, X…

So what if they were trying to kill him? That was beside the point…

Serges reached over to his sterilized tray of instruments he used to patch up damaged reploids. Agile had been smacked around. Thankfully, it was mostly external plasma damage. The reploid, though in critical, wouldn't have to be taken apart drastically for full repairs. If anything, it was the Maverick's pride that had died this day.

Some loud plodding footsteps from behind Serges alerted him to an approacher…

"I'm busy, Violen." Serges grumbled. "See this jigsaw puzzle of Agile I hafta piece back together?" The much huskier apelike Maverick clenched his jaw up and leaned forward, letting his hand, and a cup of something in it come into view.

"I just thought…" Serges whirled about and snapped angrily at the much larger figure. Even though Violen could smash him into scrap, Serges didn't care. He was pissed, and logic left him often in that state.

"Thought what?!" Violen backed up a few steps, looking cowed. Timidly, he lifted the cup up.

"It's Champagne. Merry Christmas." Serges' rage vanished and his snarl disappeared.

"I…Aw, Hell…" He shook his head and turned back to the table. "I appreciate the thought, Violen. But this really isn't the time. I need to be in complete control of my faculties to patch Captain Insano here back together." Violen bowed his head lower. Serges cringed. He could almost hear the narrow minded Maverick's heart fall.

_We're not monsters…_

"I'm sorry, Violen." Serges finally mumbled, pulling up a hollow metallic tube with what seemed to be a light on the end. "It's just…I'm not the sort of person that gets filled with Holiday cheer. Especially now. Tell me, how goes…"

"We lost it." Violen interrupted sadly. "I'm sorry…Wire Sponge didn't stand a chance. Mega Man X used some sort of energy blade weapon to turn him…" The apelike Maverick shrugged. "Well, let's say a Salad Shooter couldn't have done a better job of it."

"So that's it then." Serges said calmly. "Three Maverick Generals down, and X sent Agile packing. If he hadn't managed to use Zero's torso and arms as a bargaining chip, the moron wouldn't even be here right now."

"We'll get him." Violen growled, newfound resolve seeping into his voice. Brusquely, he took his glass of champagne and threw it back into his throat, taking a deep swallow. He crushed the remains in his hand and growled louder. "By God, I'll make him pay for this!" Serges activated the device and began running it over Agile's battle torn body, clucking as he did.

"Oh, don't worry. There'll be a time for blind rage. Right now, we need to take advantage of the Holiday to recuperate and prepare another offensive. That's the one advantage we have; He can only react. WE always make the first move."

Hazil and Cain looked up at the clock on the wall of the Medical Bay. It blinked ominous numbers. 

1:07 A.M.

Cheery Christmas music was playing throughout the entire MHHQ, piped through every comm and with a stereo going in every major room. The greenhorn Hunters laughed and danced and slapped each other on the back as they celebrated. Cain turned to Hazil with a plain look.

"Good thing you killed the comm circuit to this room."

"If I hadn't killed the comm, I would have killed a Mall Santa." Hazil replied drily. Cain snorted.

"What, and go Maverick?"

"Ahem. JOKE, Cain. Joke."

The tedium was finally broken by the all too familiar whine of a warp signature crashing down into existence. Cain and Hazil jumped back as the blue and white blur of matter and energy reformed in front of their eyes into Mega Man X.

He looked at the two of them, a slight grin on his face and both hands behind his back.

"I brought back a present." Cain frowned for a moment and folded his arms.

"Oh? The head of the Maverick at the Weather Control Center?"

"There were 2 Mavericks."

"WHAT?!" Hazil sputtered in disbelief. The Medical reploid wheeled back on his tread base a few centimeters and stared at X. "That's just crazy…"

"One was called Agile. He's one of the Mavericks who sent us that quirky message not too long ago…and he was true to his word."

The implication was lost on Cain and Hazil, who stared at him blankly. X smiled a bit wider and pulled his hands out in front of him, carefully clutching the red torso and black arms, and everything else attached to it.

"Merry Christmas, guys." Hazil reached for his glass of egg nog and swallowed the entire thing in one gulp. Cain allowed himself a small fainting spell onto a nearby Medical Cot.

"That's one Hell of a present, X." Hazil said finally, respect, awe, and even a small twinge of joy seeping into his voice. "It's been a long time since I've seen that particular…" He shook his head, reaching up with his hands to wipe his eyes. "Aah, damn…Fine time for me to get blubbery." 

Calmly, Mega Man X took the first section of Zero over to the table that held his control chip on a display stand. He reverently placed it down by what was Zero's mind, then bowed at it. 

Then he turned to Cain and helped the Doctor to his feet, his smile even wider.

"Come on. We'll worry about the rest of the Mavericks later. Let's go celebrate!"

And at long last, the final 3 members of the MHHQ, grumpy, driven, and respected by all on base…

Had some Christmas cheer to spread.


	10. Caging The Dragon

**__**

MEGA MAN X: ISLAND OF AWAKENING

By Erico

CHAPTER EIGHT: CAGING THE DRAGON

"Time to make the doughnuts." Cristoph mumbled absentmindedly as he came plodding through the doors of Washington D.C.'s GDC offices. The Christmas holiday had gone off without a hitch, and after shutting down the Maverick's ability to play Jack Frost with Cornus's Weather Control Systems on Christmas Eve…

No, the gray haired man thought to himself with a slight twinge of annoyance. After _Mega Man X_ had shut down the Maverick's ability to play Jack Frost with…well, no need to complete the thought a second time. The simple fact was that the GDC, and indeed the very world was capitalizing on the 'new Blue Bomber' as the planet's savior. Which was…

"How to put it exactly??" Cristoph mumbled. Cristoph was lucky in one respect to many in the world. He did not have any personal familial relationships with people who had been affected by the horrors of robotic violence. Saved from those horrors back during the dark days of Wily's robot rebellions, and now even more so with the Maverick's plans for world conquest and the complete extermination of the human race, Cristoph was lucky.

That didn't mean he still resented the entire charade as much as the next robot racist. Probably more so.

"The times will change." Cristoph said absentmindedly as he flipped his plastic security pass at the scanner. The guard inside…reploid, Cristoph noticed with a small scowl, smiled at him and gave a meager wave before turning back to the hallway security cameras.

"I suppose we should try to change the times to work for our benefit."

"So what's the prognosis on Zero's torso and arms?" Cain queried to Hazil, leaning on a rather uncomfortable Medical Cot as the doctor stuck a very cold and sterilized probe in his ear. The gray haired reploid on tank treads squinted for a moment as he peered through the device and into James Cain's ear canal.

"Oh, they're fine. Better than they were, actually…" Hazil pulled the device free of Cain's head unceremoniously and reached for his next object of torture. "The microfusion tank and armor remains virtually unchanged. They did add a pair of shoulder applets, but aside from that…"

"Interesting." Cain mused. "So what about his arms? I doubt the Mavericks would have rebuilt Zero without adding in a few…adjustments."

"Well, they built in a big one." Hazil grunted, turning back with a small rubber mallet. He held up a free hand and wiggled it. "How many fingers am I holding up?" Cain began to mouth a reply.

"FiiiIIMINEYS!" Cain yelped as Hazil rapped him soundly on the kneecap. The reploid doctor allowed himself a small smirk.

"Your reflexes check out." He set the mallet back on his tool table and grunted, signalling to Cain his exam was done. Cain hopped down from his seat and hobbled back onto his walking stick.

"You were saying?" He asked, hoping Hazil would continue. The reploid chuckled for a moment.

"I was saying that someone in the Mavericks knows a lot about piecing reploids together again…and a lot about weapons systems. I assume you recall what did Zero in?"

"Double Buster overload."

"Never again." Hazil replied. Cain raised both eyebrows, even though the reploid had his back turned. "You heard right, doc. I did a hot scan myself of X's Christmas present. Apparently, Zero as well was given the ability to use both Busters simultaneously. Our little boy blue has once more been evenly matched. To top it all off, those twippy Mavericks gave Zero something better. See that yellow handled metallic rod sticking out of that gray pack on his back?"

"You could have said that in lesser words…" Cain mused. Hazil shook his head vigorously.

"Not a blessed chance. These Mavericks are GENIUS. They've given Zero a beam saber, yellow bladed. There's TWO improvements here. One, that grayish pack on his back is directly hooked to his main power. It draws in energy from the Crimson Hunter's microfusion Tank to always keep the beam saber fully charged. What they've managed to accomplish is to make beam sabers MENACING!!" Hazil shook his head. "Before, beam sabers could only be charged at stationary charge points, like a wall socket. This…this gives reploids the ability to carry them anywhere. Sigma was an unholy demon with that thing. If he'd had this recharge pack, there wouldn't have been a soul left to face him."

"I think I've heard enough." Said Cain with a blanched face. Hazil shook his head.

"Swallow more Mylanta, I haven't told you the second bit." Cain rolled his eyes.

"Did they give him the ability to blow mountains apart?"

"Close to it. How well versed in Buster design and mechanics are you?"

"All I know is that most reploids are built with a Buster of some power setting…most only strong enough to give a small shock, but reploids with military roles…"

"OK, OK, you can stop with the history lesson." Hazil clipped. "Needless to say, I've been in contact with some people I haven't forgotten about in my past life."

"Past life?"

"Before I set up my body chop shop here at MHHQ, Cain. Jeezus!"

"Fine, fine." Cain mouthed back. "So you've been talking with friends. So?"

"What the Mavericks have accomplished here is unlike anything before. What they've given Zero in effect…is a triple charge."

"A WHAT!?"

"Well, I'd call it 'Hypercharging' myself. But the basic principle works something like this. Zero's been wired so that he can shunt charged Buster power up into his power pack, and thusly the beam saber. They've given it more than the ability to slash about like some Luke Skywalker crone. No, this yellow tinted wonder can suck up that excess power and HURL IT OUT in a bleeding energy wave capable of slicing through most anything. Seriously, Cain. Hypercharging. The schematics for this are just so damn revolutionary…" Hazil tilted his head back and ran a hand through his silvery hair. "I swear, this is no ordinary Maverick capable of putting this together. This is the work of a MAD GENIUS. I'd like to shake the guy's hand…and them vaporize him." Cain snorted.

"Seems hardly appropriate. Why not just off him in the first place and be done with it?"

"Cain, if I went Maverick, would you have the heart to pull the trigger yourself?" Hazil asked with a quiet voice. Cain froze and turned to look at Hazil with a stunned expression. Hazil was looking at Cain plaintively, begging for an answer. Cain shivered.

"Let's not get into that." Hazil shrugged.

"Fair enough."

"So why not just off him in the first place?"

"Let's not get into that." Hazil snapped back. Cain looked at Hazil. The doctor had a half smile back. Cain's color returned and he smiled in relief.

"Point taken. So X went off again today?"

"Day after Christmas. Yep. One of those X-Hunters issued him a challenge, told X to meet him at the Cornus Geothermal plant."

"The one with the active volcano?!"

"One and the same. Ya know, I read somewhere that place produces all the power for the southern section of the island. For X, it's shooting 2 birds with one stone; slowing down the Maverick domination of the island, AND getting another shot at a section of Zero."

"The first one…Agile? Didn't he use something similar to this Hypercharging system you're describing?"

"Agile had no Busters, and no recharge pack. No, Agile didn't have Hypercharging. However, this next one might. The one thing I didn't manage to tell X…was to keep a lookout for that." Hazil shrugged and turned back to his display. "The best thing I did for him was fully charge that Sub-Tank of his." Cain laughed.

"That boy can take care of himself. We do what we can for him, but now that he's regaining Zero…" Cain shrugged. "Well, I've noticed his mood's improved drastically."

"Why not?" Hazil offered flippantly. "It's not every day one regains a dead friend."

"You're not running with your head on straight!" Violen snapped angrily. Serges stared down at his wristcomm and to the tiny picture of his ally in the regime. For once, Violen's mood had gone sour.

Which didn't happen…not without a very good reason.

Violen felt he had one.

"And just who are you to judge me?" Serges asked calmly, twisting his mustache with a gloved hand. 

"Damnit, Serges…"

"Oh, quiet." Serges snapped. He turned his eerie robotic optic downwards and glared daggers. "Listen to me, and listen well. It was Agile who fought X first. Not one of us. The both of us know his head isn't screwed on the straightest. Therefore, there was a high possibility he'd lose."

"So what are you doing then?!" Violen asked tersely. 

Serges pondered the question for a moment and maneuvered his spike lined hoverboard to the other end of the room. The room. It had been set up originally as a smaller reserve post to the main one a good distance off. Now that the Mavericks held presence there, its purpose was slightly altered.

This was Serges' ambush room. 

"Serges?!" Violen repeated. The doctor Maverick rubbed his chin a bit.

"Why am I doing this?" He mused aloud. Finally, he turned back and stared into his viewscreen. "Perhaps I'm willing to risk my life to test X's abilities. Perhaps I'm wanting to take revenge for all the allies he's killed, and for the fact he almost destroyed Agile. Or perhaps I just don't care if I die or not. Take your pick."

"Crimineys, Serges…"

"Don't fret." Serges clucked. "My hoverboard's fully loaded with explosives, my Blitzkrieg Buster's fully functional, and to get to me, X has to run the gauntlet of lava, hot steam pipes and unfriendly worker 'bots. Just tell Agile to ignore the Cornus matter for now and finish his work on the Ice Fortress. I'll take care of it."

"But Serges…" Violen persisted. The gruffish stovepipe hat wearing Maverick growled.

"What now?" Violen bowed his head for a moment and lifted it back up, genuine concern shining in his eyes.

"What…what if he…"

"Wins?" Serges answered. Violen grew silent, awaiting an answer. Serges shrugged. "Well, I've got my mitts on Zero's head and golden mane of hair…that should be diversion enough for me to escape should it get that bad."

"Great. So in the end we'll forfeit Zero?!" Violen shot back. "He was dangerous enough BEFORE he died. Now that his body's been upgraded, how could we hope to stand out against him should the Maverick Hunters reclaim him all?!" 

"I guess that we'll have to try not to lose to him then." Serges answered quietly. He shut off his comm transmission and sighed, looking up at the ceiling.

A nearby rotating door slid apart, and a tall figure walked in, twin flames spouting from his head where ears would be.

"What is it now?" Serges asked hoarsely. The Maverick snorted and pawed at the ground.

"Not like you to be this irrational…even for an irregular."

"Maverick." Serges said back. "Please Flame, if you're gonna refer to my state of allegiance, call me a Maverick. It's much more romanticized." Flame Stag smiled.

"I thought Mavericks weren't artists."

"We're artists of destruction. Besides, so what if I'm slightly irrational?"

"I've heard rumors that Mavericks become irrational just before they die."

"Oh?" Serges queried back amusedly. "Why should that concern you? Are you afraid to die?"

"Aren't you?!" Flame Stag replied in concern. Serges shook his head.

"No. I've never died before, why should I be scared of it? And besides…the technology exists now to bring dead reploids back to life. Zero should be evidence enough of that."

"Zero…" Flame Stag mused. He shook his head and started back to the door. He froze, then turned only a step away from the exit. "But tell me this, Serges. When Zero is truly resurrected, will he be Maverick…or Maverick Hunter?"

The door shut quietly behind the Maverick General, leaving Serges to his thoughts.

And his silence.

The Mavericks knew X was coming this time. That was nothing new.

What was new was that they had set up the time. 

"At least they gave me Christmas off." X grumbled, holding still to scan his terrain. They'd sent him a set of coordinates, with explicit instructions not to deviate from them…

Lest a part of Zero be destroyed for X's insolence.

All in all, X had to admire this particular region of Cornus, despite the fact that the very island was born from a horrendous chain event that had triggered Fuji's eruption and buried Light's lab. 

Unlike most of the island, the region about the Geothermal Volcanic Plant, or whatever the flaming Hell the Mavericks wanted to call it had been left untouched by artificial growth. No huge tropical foliage grew, and signs of habitation were few. 

Aside from the thick metallic pipes pumping hot water and steam about the circular geothermal systems, the outside of the facility looked…

Well, like an undiscovered volcano. The ground was craggy, dry, barren, yet maintaining solidity because of its high rock content. Looking up, X saw he was standing on a high ledge of rock underneath a particularly menacing overhang. Shivering, he decided he'd had enough sightseeing.

No, the mission to defeat the Mavericks…And reclaim Zero…took precedence.

**_But which of those two is more important, X?_**

The Blue Bomber of 21XX froze midstep and shook his head in disbelief.

"Oh, cripes…not you again!"

**_Who were you expecting, the Good Humor Man? I don't exist to piss you off. I'm here to guide you._**

"But what are you?!"

**_What do you think?_** The voice responded coyly. 

"Frackit, I don't have time for this…"

**_Listen, X. I'll leave when you answer me one simple question: Which mission is more important?_**

"What…what do you mean?" X asked back uneasily. The voice harrumphed.

**_Simple. Which is of utmost importance? Saving Cornus…or saving Zero?_**

X thought on it, his feverish mind weighing the measures of it all. And he came to a startling conclusion.

"I…I don't…know…"

**_Well, at least you're honest with yourself. Think about it, X. I think you'll find that you'll have to deal with that question sooner than you think…_**

"Wait!!"

**_Sooner than you think…_**

And the voice left him. X took a moment to run a self diagnostic. Disappointingly, the results were all green.

It wasn't a glitch in his systems. 

But no matter what caused the voice…

The implications were enough.

"Who's more important, X…" He asked himself quietly. "The mission…or the friend?"

Thankfully, a large armored drone came floating down from above, its thrusters pulsating with a gentle thrum. X recognized it immediately.

A Beetron, a transport drone with minimal vertical abilities but a powerful frontal thrust. And from the looks of it, this one had been modified with a spinning nose blade for devastating ramming attacks.

"Picture perfect Maverick design." X sighed. "Big, clunky, heavily armored, and stupid."

But dangerous.

At least the issue of task importance was pushed off until later.

"Flame, you reading this?" Serges snapped tersely. Flame grunted.

"Yeah…I never would have expected the GDC to stash a Sub-Tank there."

"That's just friggin' great. Now X has two blasted things capable of saving his ass. You're not making my job easy here!" Flame pawed at the cement floor of his control room and rolled his eyes.

Serges had his ambush room, which was medium sized. But Flame Stag's chamber was a wonder. Unlike most other Mavericks, his had more height than width, height that Flame Stag was capable of using to bound off the walls in a fiery ricochet. But at the current moment, he wasn't concerned with his room.

It was his life.

"I guess you'll have to be on the ball then. Besides, your hoverboard has an energy shield on it. If he starts pouring on the heat, block it. I don't have that luxury."

"You trying to make me feel better? I may be Maverick, but I'm still a doctor first and foremost!!"

"Then do what rational minds do. Try to psych him out." Flame snorted. "This is funny. Me, giving you advice?"

"Oh, shut up." Serges snapped finally, slamming his comm off. Flame paused for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders and turned back to his monitor.

The cameras indicated X was drawing close to the first lava trap, an upwards climb with lava trailing after him that would push the Hunter to his limits. 

Flame had left his extra Heart Tank in that tunnel, just to tempt X. He'd also left a Barite Lastar…more commonly, a barrier bot. If X went for it, there was a high probability he'd die in the fiery magma rushing at his heels.

There was a certain edge of sick pleasure in Flame's smile as he saw a blur of blue finally move into range of the first camera.

X had arrived. The question was…

Would he make it out?

"Time to play the running man." Flame said calmly, punching in a button on a nearby wall. The entire Geothermal complex began to shake, its widespread buildings about the large volcano trembling by the forces Flame Stag was unleashing.

What had transpired was a brilliant effort. A shielded bomb had just been set off deep in the lava beneath the metallic grills X was walking on. Furthermore, Flame had disabled the energy shield holding that same lava back from immolating the vertical tunnel.

And X was right in its path.

"All right, X…START RUNNING!!"

X had found little opposition in his path. A few modified bipedal drones that shot out a triple burst of plasma was about all that crawled about the tunnels. And now, here he was, out of the narrow tunnels and seemingly in a tunnel that stretched upwards to the sky above. X frowned and looked closer. No, the surfaces were uneven. This wasn't a straight shaft, and it'd take some time to move about.

Suddenly, the ground started shaking, and X had to put more concentration into his feet to keep sturdy. Frowning, X began to charge plasma energy into his gauntlets. Something told him he'd be needing the power.

Finally, a swirling, roiling angry bubbling from below caught his attention. Swiveling his head, he saw just in time the flickering of an energy shield shutting off, and a wave of lava climbing up towards him. Even though not human, it seemed as though X paled.

_No time for gawking, X. Unless you're ready to become the blue plate special, I suggest you MOVE!_

For once, X agreed wholeheartedly with the aggravating voice in his head. 

"Damn it all…Guess you're climbing this thing for real now, huh?!" He growled to himself.

With all the speed he could muster, X took off with a high powered leap at the wall, clenching his fists up. His gauntlets responded, snapping out the grappling claws he used for climbing and digging fiercely into the dirt of the chamber's walls.

_Jump, dash, pull, reverse!_

**_SHUT UP!!_**

Oh, I get it. No need to state the obvious.

Fear, rage, panic…

Every emotion X could think of bled into him, fueled his will to live. No tunnel would get the best of him…

Finally, he reached a small ledge and found himself staring at a Heart Tank, rotating with a slight glimmer of light about it. Without thinking, he rushed at it, slamming it into place in his chest compartment and shutting it almost as quickly.

Then he heard the slam of metal hitting dirt. Twisting about, he found the source.

A goddamned Barite Lastar…had trapped him in.

And the lava was rising. 

"No you don't…" X growled, raising both arms up and forming them into Busters. "I WON'T DIE HERE!!" 

The Barite Lastar exploded in a shower of sparks as two devastating supershots blew clean through and out the other side. With a powerful scream, X charged through the remains of his would be trap and once more bounded outwards from the tunnel.

Atop the exit to the vertical passage, the ground began to quake fiercely from the stress.

And two things shot out from the hole. A flash of blue, and a raging swell of reddish magma hot on its heels.

X flailed his arms in dismay as he landed ungracefully into the soft grass, the wind getting knocked out of him by the abuse. But as the lava flow erupted behind him, X knew it was better to have his bruises.

He'd managed to stay alive…

Pulling himself to his feet, X narrowed his eyes.

"Oh, those Mavericks are gonna pay for that."

"Agile, do you have a positive confirmation of that data I'm sending you?" Serges muttered growlishly. The purple armored reploid blinked his red eyes a few times before speaking.

"It seems to be about right."

"Christ, you're telling me he's that…"

"He's that crazy, he's that good, he's that powerful, take your pick." Agile replied drily. "Yes, these stats do measure up from the whuppin' I got from him two days ago. He is one powerful twit, no doubt about that. No matter how we'd like our estimates to be, we're just…" Agile threw up his hands in dismay. "Well, let's hope that you've got some devious tricks up your sleeve. Don't give X a moment of breathing room." 

Serges blinked back at Agile. The usually grinning reploid hadn't smiled since he'd been reactivated. And Serges had a pretty good idea why. It was a bluish Maverick Hunter with a menacing Buster at the end of his arm. On the flipside, Agile hadn't jangled on his nerves as much and had begun to be very helpful instead of flaky. So perhaps Serges owed X a favor.

Of course, X was gunning for his head now. And all bets were off. Serges nodded to his comrade.

"How goes Ice Fortress?"

"The groundwork's laid. We're in the final stages now. Monitors, connections, arsenals, vending machines, that sort of thing." 

"Any final dates you can think of?"

"First of the year. That was our planned date, and we'll make it." Serges nodded again. 

"Keep it up then." A chime brought Serges to his senses. Frowning, he turned about and kept talking. "Agile…he's here." Agile's eyes dimmed out and he bowed his head for a moment. "I'm hearing a death knell somewhere in my mind. Let's hope it's his. Agile out. And Serges…"

"Yes?"

"Don't die on me." Serges gave a wan smile.

"I'm not done bossing you 'round yet." He clipped the comm signal off and turned about, powering up his hoverboard so it floated about a foot off the ground. Tucking his hands behind his back, he clenched his right hand into a fist and subconsciously warned his Blitzkrieg Buster to go to standby mode. 

His hoverboard's shield was fully charged, and he had a good twenty mine bombs in the drop compartment. Tucking his cloak about himself, Serges slipped back into the shadows and waited.

At long last, the rotating doors opened…a figure came into the dimly lit chamber. The air about the Buster on his left arm was aglow with a purple light, barely lighting up his face, but still giving it shadows. 

The Maverick Hunter who had just entered paused and looked about the small room for a few moments, then narrowed his vision down and glowered into the dark corner where Serges lay.

Without a moment's hesitation, he brought up his right hand and fired off a smaller burst of plasma, a greenish blur that streaked along. Serges widened his eyes for a moment before wisely choosing to scatter out of the shot's path and into the open light.

And the shot X had been holding back streaked out towards Serges. Somehow, the Maverick had known he would try that trick…his energy shield flared up only a moment before the shot struck and fizzled out of existence, its energy wasted on the high powered shield. 

X lowered his arms. Serges lowered the shield.

"Well now." Serges said drily. "Where's the opening dialogue you're so famous for?" X stared at the Maverick blankly for a few moments, then spoke up again, his voice audible even over the whine of his Buster charging up again.

"I'm X. Who're you?" The Maverick's robotic eye twisted into focus as he smirked.

"You can call me doc Serges. You have me to thank for patching up Zero…I consider him to be my pet project of sorts." X narrowed his gaze.

"So…you were the one who salvaged Zero, eh?" Serges shook his head.

"No, that was my comrade Violen. Agile you've already met…I know this because I put him back together again. I merely patch reploids up…and revive them. Which I was in the process of doing in the week before Christmas…and then I go to discover much to my dismay that Zero and whoever programmed his warp generator back at the MHHQ is very devious indeed."

"Hazil." X corrected darkly. "We call him Hazil. In some ways, he's like you." 

"Oh?" Serges queried back, a little surprised. "Why is that?"

"He's grumpy, has gray hair, and fixes up reploids. Many's the time he's saved my ass."

"Well X, shall I use a cheap boast?" Serges shot back. "I am Serges, and I cannot allow you to stop the reunification!!" X frowned.

"The what?" Serges halted midscream and rolled his eyes.

"It's my special name for sticking all of Zero back together and turning him against you, all right?" 

"Oh."

"Can I continue?" Serges grumbled annoyedly. X gave a nod, purple light flickering about his body. "Anyhow…IT IS FOR THE GOOD OF ALL!!" 

"So's this." X said tartly. 

And the room erupted with the sound of unleashed plasma.

The first shot flew on, a menacing wave of power that by previous fight recordings, Serges knew all too well. He tutted and shook his head, stepping down on a switch by his feet.

Instantly, a wide bluish swath of light erupted around both him and the hoverboard, the glittering light offering a slight indication to its true purpose. Serges allowed himself a small smile as he calmly watched the shot approach him.

Finally it struck, the shield and attack hissing at each other until at last the shield won out. The Maverick grinned wider as he stared at X.

The Hunter offered him no satisfying look of stupefication.

"What, aren't you surprised?"

"Doesn't mean I need to look surprised. I've grown a lot since I took down Sigma."

"Indeed." Serges said drily. "You've become an even better killer than before." 

"Everyone seems to tell me that. For the time being, fine. I'm a killer. But I'm here for Zero. I assume you brought along the bargaining chip?"

"Zero's head and hair. You betcha." Serges said calmly. "It's stored somewhere in this room, which I won't reveal to you until AFTER you beat me. If you can."

X blinked once, then charged at Serges with his boots spouting fire. The Maverick pulled out both arms and shook his head, then let his hands vanish into Busters.

Blitzkrieg Busters. Serges chucked himself into the air, his dash thrusters sending his body into a gyroscopic spin. 

"Try this on for size!!" Serges screamed, pulling the trigger. He didn't know where he was aiming, he just knew that his hoverboard would remotely move to where he would land to catch him.

The room erupted as Serges' modified Busters spat out angry plasma bursts in every direction. For once, X was caught off guard by a Maverick's move. And Serges took a nanosecond to give himself a mental pat on the back as he heard the pained grunt of his foe.

Landing, he turned back around to watch X nurse a rather nasty plasma burn on his shoulder armor. It had distorted a bit by the blast's power, and Serges could tell that it wasn't painless either.

"Not so skippy now, are ya Sparks?" Serges said triumphantly. X looked up through partially glassy eyes.

"Your aim's off." 

Serges bit his tongue. Agile was right. X HAD changed. He was no longer the simpering weakling who had gone with Zero on June 19th to take on Sigma.

He had a sickening feeling it wouldn't be him coming out of this the victor.

.

**_So at long last, you've finally found your true Hunter self._**

I never asked for it.

****

Yet without it, you would be dead right now.

And with it, I'm no longer me.

**Fine. Later on you can be you. Basically X, you need to have two states of mind: The civilian, and the Hunter.**

And right now…

**Now is the time to Hunt.**

Dash jump. Turn. Fire before Serges had time to get his shield up from the latest Blitzkrieg.

**_Ever hear the phrase, leap, strike, and I will follow?_**

_Vaguely._

**You're doing fine, X. Just remember to keep focused, and you'll keep alive.**

You're not helping me then.

**So I'm off then. Until we meet again…**

Serges gasped for air as his plasma scorched body screamed at him for power, for surcease to the madness.

"It can't be…" He wheezed. "How could Sigma have lived…through this…" And yet he had.

"You're beginning to falter, Serges." X said calmly. Serges was. Unlike X, he hadn't had the luxury of a full Sub-Tank to drain from. "I'm not as much of a coldblooded killer as you make me out to be. Give me Zero's head, and I'll be on my way."

"That's a stupid strategical error, X." Serges said, picking himself up and leaning on his hoverboard. Quickly, he punched a button that retracted the spikes. No sense in impaling himself. "If you don't kill me now, then you'll have to do it later."

"Later then." X replied with a growl. "I have enough to deal with now. I came for Zero's head and to take back the Geothermal base for Cornus."

"And you think I'm alone?" Serges said. "I'm not a Maverick General…I'm one of the Maverick elite. You'll still have to destroy one Maverick at the end of your plasma parade here today."

"Are you trying to pick my spirits up?" X said sarcastically. "No need to state the obvious. Now point out Zero and be off with you. I don't have time for speeches." Serges raised a weary hand and motioned towards the wall.

"Hidden safe…combination 319." 

"Thanks. Now get the Hell out of dodge." Serges groaned.

He'd lost.

"You're only…delaying the inevitable…" 

X paid no attention to his warped particles as they shot away from the hidden lair.

"Perhaps." Reaching into his chest compartment, he removed two small circular pads with flashing lights and a center button. He keyed in his comm and opened a channel as he set to work finding the hidden safe.

"MHHQ here." Came the gruff voice of Hazil.

"Doc, I'm alive. Serges won't be bothering us for a while."

"And Zero's…"

"Working on it right now. You sure these gadgets of yours will work?"

"Personal Transport Units, PTU's. Better damn well hope so. The research was funded mostly out of Cain's own pocket, and the GDC's got no claim on 'em. Which means seeing as I did most of the work on the circuitry miniaturization, it damn well better."

"You're repeating yourself."

"It's simple, X." Hazil said, not miffed in the slightest by the new Blue Bomber's response. "Just find a random pebble around where ya are and stick the first one on. Push the center button, and keep your comm open. Take Zero's head along with ya, and if you get a positive response from me, attach the second PTU to it and warp that thing back here."

"Sounds good in theory."

"Rules were meant to be broken." Hazil offered simply. X finally found the safe and punched in the combo. But it didn't work. X widened his eyes.

_That no good sonofa…_

****

Hello, Earth to X?! He's a Maverick. Of course he'll lie. But I don't suppose you've tried the obvious combo?

Which is?

****

Maverick Independence Day. 

X gave himself a mental smack. Of course…

"Hold on Hazil, I'm cracking the safe." Quickly, X punched in a three digit number. 6-0-4. June 4th. 

It was that day that Sigma and his Maverick followers broke free from the MHHQ in the Death Rogumer and began their rampage. It made perfect sense.

And the safe opened.

X picked up a nearby chunk of wall blown off during the fight and attached the first PTU, hitting the switch as Hazil had mentioned. It whined for a moment, then vanished in a blink of light.

"First package out." 

Ten minutes later, as X was staring at an open pit of lava with unsturdy pedestals to get to the other side, and wondering how the devil he'd do it with one arm holding Zero's head, Hazil chirped back in.

"The rock's here. Looks like you weren't the only one shooting plasma." X allowed himself a small smile.

"Zero's Head is on its way."

Flame Stag pawed at the ground, running over the information in his head. Serges had given X the wrong code, yet all the same the Hunter had cracked it.

The Maverick's plan to deceive X and prevent his obtainment of the next part of Zero had failed. He punched in his comm and routed the signal back to Ice Fortress.

"Flame here. Any sign of Serges?" It was Violen who responded.

"Yes. He came back…not in the best of shape." Flame winced. 

"Tee-rific. Will he live?"

"Undoubtedly." Violen growled. "But I've got one final ditch effort going on. I'll stop X."

"And how do you propose to lure him anywhere?" Flame Stag asked. "Christ, Violen! He's taken out some of our best Maverick Generals!!"

"He'll come of his own accord. I know exactly where he's headed for once. And I'll be waiting."

"Just what the hey are you…"

"Make me one promise here, Flame. Don't go out easy." Flame felt a pang of fear strike his chest.

"That's not reassuring."

"I'm a realist." Violen said calmly. He shut his comm off.

Back at the Ice Fortress, the hulking Maverick sighed and glared up at the ceiling.

"Sigma, you left us one Hell of a mess. Why didn't you kill X off when he was WEAK?!" No response came from the thrumming machinery. He shook his head and activated his Warp Generator.

"Oh, I know where X is headed. Initial Buster tests showed that a charged version of Flame Stag's weapon acts much as his fire charge. And with that, X holds the ability to find a gem too promising to pass up. That bleeding Heart Tank of Wheel Gator's."

Agile came up beside Violen from a passageway, then scratched at his head.

"I see we all have a death wish. Going out to take on X?"

"He won't be expecting me." Violen said calmly. "That's why I'll win. When he's finished with Flame Stag, he'll make tracks for the Dino Tank again." Agile frowned.

"Hey, the GDC hasn't been able to regain control of that thing, but even so, it's been programmed to attack incoming forces! And knowing X, he's set the shield to only allow his warp signature entry." Violen shrugged.

"All correct. But then, you haven't been in contact with Magnus much, have you?"

"Magna Centipede, the computer geek?"

"Genius. He likes to be called a genius."

"Anyhow, what's your point?"

"He's been keeping constant scans running of X's warp signature as it comes in and leaves Cornus." Agile widened his eyes.

"Ya mean…"

"We now have the capability to fake X's warp signature. For the time being, it will let us get into the Dino Tank. But eventually…imagine what we could accomplish by going straight to the MHHQ!!" 

Agile whistled and shrugged his shoulders.

"By all means then." Violen gave a vigorous bob of his head, then scrutinized Agile.

"You've changed. You used to be brimming with energy."

"And then I nearly died." Agile offered weakly. "Go on. The battle is waiting."

Violen pulled out a small device from his chest compartment and placed it on his wrist, then punched a small button in the center. It was a reasonable facsimile to the PTU's that Hazil had played a large part in developing.

And as Violen vanished, the color of his particles changed to blue and white.

Like X's.

Back at the Geothermal plant, Flame Stag froze as he heard the unmistakable creak of the outside rotating door being opened.

"So he's here." The Maverick rasped. Quickly, he leapt up the high walls and bided his time. 

It was he who would get in the first shot.

Not X.

Calmly, X opened the second rotating door and took a step forth.

The drop caught him off guard, to say the least. But like a nimble cat, he managed to land on his feet and keep his Busters charged.

"Now where are you?" X growled, tuning up his auditory sensors for any sign of the Maverick.

After running the gauntlet of lava pits, Morguns with igniting tails along a vertical shaft of leaking natural gas, and enough Beetrons to give Sigma fits, X was ready for almost anything.

Anything except the crushing blow that came from above, aided by the power of flaring red plasma burning about a fist. Every pain sensor throughout his body screamed at him from the newfound strain, and somehow the Hunter managed to keep his eyes from rolling back into their sockets. Yet all the same, the force slammed him into the overextended scaffolding that served as the floor along the horrendous shaft.

His auditory sensors picked up a powerful exhalation of air, followed again by a short pause, and then low laughter.

"You're supposed to be the best the Hunters have? They should have chosen better." Finally, most of the damage signals faded away as X reexamined himself.

That blow had been based mainly where his shoulder blades would be. The rest of the damage was minor, barely first degree plasma burns. Still, it hurt like Hell and had dropped his internal operations energy a good 14%.

He picked himself up to his feet and ignored the racking pain that shot through his spinal column.

There stood the triumphant Maverick in control of the Geothermal base on Cornus. He stood tall, yet from his lean appearance, he wasn't a bruiser. In some ways, he resembled X.

In other ways, like his red burnished armor and what seemed to be the head of some horse creature, not to mention the eerie pair of flames jutting from his head where ears would be, this Maverick was completely different from anything X had seen before. How those flame ears kept going…probably a minute matter replicator keeping a constant stream of some sort of gas going to the proper spouts.

"And who would you be?" X growled. The Maverick folded his arms and shrugged.

"Just another chalk mark on your killboard."

"Give me your damn name already." The Hunter snapped. "I've got way too many Mavericks giving me that speech." The Maverick paused for a moment, then sighed.

"Very well. The name's Flame Stag. Most just call me Flame. And I suppose if I wanted to, I could call you dad." The Maverick smiled darkly at that. "Heh…come to punish me for being a bad boy, daddy?"

**_Boy, this one's a smartass._**

Oh, and you're not?!

****

Hey, I may be a smartass, but I'm not a Maverick smartass. This guy DESERVES killing.

"I assume you do fight?" X asked. "Or were you planning to talk my ears off all day?"

"A Maverick's primary duty is to destroy." Flame chided. "Perhaps that fact eluded you?"

"I obviously haven't learned it yet." X replied. The Maverick narrowed his eyes. The Hunter was becoming obscured by a sort of light locus around him. It was green…no…purple. He frowned.

"Well, I see you're raring to go. That Buster of yours probably has a full charge going."

"THOSE Busters." X corrected. Flame raised an eyebrow.

"Say what?" In response, X raised both arms. His hands faded away to reveal a pair of streamlined blue and white Busters, both targeted straight at the Maverick.

Flame Stag barely had enough speed to dodge the first. The second one, which X was more careful aiming, continued to fly on with purpose until it struck Flame Stag directly in his upper torso. The force of the shot carried him back into the wall and melted away a few rivulets of so ever important protection.

Stunned, the Maverick General got to his feet and glowered at X.

"That's not possible…" X merely gave a half smile and began to charge again.

The Maverick began to growl.

The growl became a scream.

And a few milliseconds later, Flame Stag hurled his right arm forward and unleashed a blast of directed plasma flames at X. The Hunter easily dodged the shot and unleashed his own. Flame Stag's followup left hook provided enough of a charge to cancel X's blast.

"Oh, this'll be fun…" Flame Stag mused drily. And at long last, the Maverick succumbed into rage.

The rationality left him. Only the flames of hatred controlled his movements now.

What was left of the Maverick's sentience hoped dearly it would be enough.

The Central Computer Complex. The hub of the powerful interconnected electronic network spanning all of Cornus.

Home now to the Maverick General, Magna Centipede. 

"But I'm Magnus…" He thought painfully. He shook off the sobering thought and turned back to his monitors.

All in all, they'd had a hell of a ride. The Maverick attack, preplanned months before had stuck him as a janitor reploid in this Complex, supposedly as innocent as any on the island. There he'd done his duties, gritted his teeth and pushed back day after day the need to kill those disgusting humans who walked about the pristine hallways. His progress reports had stated he showed unusually high dedication to his job, and he'd gotten a raise for it.

"I suppose it never occurred to them I scrubbed the hell out of those walls because their stinking dead skin cells got grafted onto it." Magnus stated simply. But the mind of a Maverick was strong…for his mission, the Maverick Trio, Serges, Agile, and Violen had needed to pacify him somewhat. In that respect, he was much more different than any of the other generals. The need to destroy, the primary urges one felt as a Maverick were lessened in him…Indeed, Magnus, as he liked to call himself, was a sort of Maverick half-breed.

The eccentricities that had developed because of the pacification experiments were unnerving to the rest of the Mavericks. Aside from Serges, who had enough quirks in his mind already to grasp onto buttloads of his original attitudes and thoughts, Magnus was the one wild card who could continually outsmart the others in a game of Chess. Not to mention when push came to shove, his inclination was to run. Perhaps that was why Magnus had developed the warp boots…

He shook his head.

"Off track again, Magnus…Keep tabs on the island." Calmly, he watched the monitors. Originally, there had been eight green blips. Three of them had turned to red, indicating where X had struck, and won out against some of the strongest Maverick Generals yet. Comparatively, Magnus was weak to the heavy hitters like Wheel Gator and the still living Bubble Crab, his only true upside being the insane blazing speed by which he was able to move about a lair with a combination of his warp boots and inverted force fields.

And while most would think that Magnus had been sitting in the Central Computer's lair, biding his time and accomplishing nothing to help the regime, that thought was sorely wrong. Thanks to the EM shield Magnus had kept up around Cornus, he had been given the ability to scan anything warping in and out of Cornus airspace. And for six times past, that had been Mega Man X.

The signal was complex, as all warp signals were, scrambled and encoded so that positive identification could not be made.

At least, in theory. But Magnus had a rational mind in his head, one that had allowed him to take the warp signature data of X…

And emulate it. Thanks to his efforts, the Mavericks now had the ability with small external warp generators, to warp to and from places masked to look similar to X's own warp signature. Of primary importance was that they could go back to the Dino Tank…Although that did little good. X had locked most of the higher functions of the craft with a good deal of code, making the Dino Tank virtually useless. It was stuck, and no one could command its guns to act on any different target aside from the one the Hunter had assigned.

Still, Violen saw opportunity. Magnus had to smile at that. Violen wasn't the most intelligent Maverick, but when he saw opportunity, he by God took it. So the Dino Tank was useless to them as a weapon, or even a defensive measure against GDC forces. Fine. The Mavericks had been in worse odds, they'd manage.

But Violen's idea still held promise. The Heart Tank left there by the mainly muscle-minded Wheel Gator sat on a ledge guarded by a menacing wall of spikes. If X succeeded in overcoming Flame Stag and claiming his weapon, he would find, as the Maverick's initial Buster weapons copy tests showed, that when charged up, the copy version of Flame Stag's plasma fire weaponry would allow the user to shoot through the air as a blazing rocket.

Namely, that gave X the ability to reach the Heart Tank. And he would come, probably right after completing his business with Flame. And when he did…it was a simple matter for Violen to trigger the auto alert on the Dino Tank and prevent ANY warp-ins…or outs.

X would find his glimmering Heart Tank…and then being trapped in that metallic monstrosity, would have to make his way to Violen's hidden lair.

There, the duel would be fought. The final duel. It was the X-Hunter's final shot at things here on Cornus.

The speakers by the monitor bleeped a sad chord and the green blip on the Volcano base went a dark red. Magnus's smile faded. Only one thing could trigger that…the sensor monitoring Flame's vitals had been shut off…along with the rest of the Maverick.

X had won. Calmly, Magnus reached for his wristcomm.

"Magnus to Violen…he's on his way."

**_Let it be said about you, X. When opportunity knocks, you certainly don't let it stand out in the cold._**

Point taken. Is that a compliment, or an observation?

**A little of both.**

The Dino Tank, the GDC's prize and joy inside of the gem known as Cornus, had thankfully been left untouched by Maverick hands. Of course, it should have. X programmed the juggernaut's computer to keep a low level shield up at all times, and allow warp entry and access only to his signature. And so, the effects of his initial rampage six days ago still fresh on the craft's interior, X had little problem weaving and retracing his way through the beast's belly. To where he knew he had to go.

And finally, after climbing up the ladder from the Dino Tank's scaffolding, he arrived. Smiling, he stared at the treasure for a moment before moving over to an upraised section of the floor. His armor shifted colors for a moment as he selected his new weapon, the Speed Burner until he was a burnished red and silver. His left Buster whined as the special weapon began to charge up energy, from green to yellow, and finally a blistering purple locus of light surrounding his body.

He took a huge dash jump towards his objective, gaining enough altitude to be just above the wall of spikes. It was gravity that would bring him to his doom.

Ordinarily, yes. But not today. Releasing the trigger, he allowed his Buster's charged up power to flare out synthesized plasma flames about his body, surrounding him with a fiery shield that sent him onwards in a second burst of speed…a modified air-dash.

The power gave out just as he cleared the menacing wall, and triumphant, X put the Heart Tank into his chest compartment.

"Easier than I thought." X said happily. "This new weapon does wonders, all right!"

He closed his eyes and brought his warp generator online, activating the procedure to take him back to the MHHQ after a long day of fighting.

**System Error: Warp-out impossible at this time. **X opened his eyes in stunned disbelief, reading the message in the corner of his eye.

"What the…"

_"I am assuming you just tried to warp out, X."_ X froze in horror as he heard the voice, then swiveled about. _"Oh, don't worry. It's nothing wrong with you, X. I merely put the Dino Tank on full alert."_

__

Well, that certainly answers a few questions.

****

Like, how could you NOT see this coming?

And you did?

****

In a way. But then, ya hardly listen to me anyhow. Eventually X, you're gonna hafta use your own instincts. Leaning on me is like using a crutch with a good leg.

"Oh, I get it." X mouthed back to the speakers implanted throughout the metallic juggernaut. "You're a Maverick, and this is some sort of trap?"

"Yup." Said the Maverick. X winced. He'd heard this voice before.

"By any chance, are you that third voice on the message we got entailing Zero?"

"Yup." X shrugged. A Maverick of few words. "The name's Violen. Soon, you'll get to an elevator you've used before. Here's the trick. You gotta keep going up, instead of hopping off on the floor you used before. Can you manage that?"

"Better hope so." X said. "Otherwise, I won't be fighting you now, will I?"

"Exactly." Violen growled. "Get here quick." The speaker snapped off, indicating the comm circuit had been shut off. X narrowed his eyes and stared up at the ceiling for a moment.

_Tell me, why can't you inform me of these things ahead of time?_

****

You need to develop these senses on your own, X. 

"Guess I should get going then." The Maverick Hunter finished wistfully. "I'm not getting' any younger."

The trip didn't take X nearly as long as he thought. True to his word, the Maverick's hidden lair was embedded deep in the bowels of the Dino Tank, farther up the elevator shaft.

What the Maverick had neglected to mention was that the entire span of the tunnel was spike lined, and that the roof was capable of instantaneous death as well. But no matter. X was small enough and fast enough now with the addition of his air-dash boots that making it out of tight spots wasn't a problem in the least.

He calmly brought his Busters to full charge and took a breath of air, then slipped inside the rotating door.

And there at the opposite end of the room stood a Maverick unlike any X had seen before. Standing, it would have dwarfed X immensely. As he stood now, slightly hunched over, the yellow and brown colored apelike Maverick was only six or seven inches taller than the Hunter. Yet his eyes glimmered with rage, and a ferocious set of teeth glittered in his mouth.

This was the Maverick called Violen. 

"Afternoon, hot stuff." Violen said lowly. "I assume you're ready to die?"

"Ready to fight." X replied. He wasn't running on all engines, one of his Sub-Tanks was bone dry, but all the same…

"Talk is talk." The Maverick snapped. "X, I shall crush you like a tin can!!"

X wasted no time in releasing his first plasma fireball. 

Yet something shot out from behind the Maverick, whistling with intense speed until it slammed into the ground in front of him with a shuddering crack. The plasma struck the object and was promptly scattered in every direction, making the shot useless.

X stood agape for a moment as he looked at the menacing object pick itself up and quiver slightly in the air. Then his frown reasserted itself.

"Lemme guess. You've got a plasma deflective mace on a chain for a tail." Violen gave a thumbs up and laughed darkly.

"Care to give up?"

"Consider this to be a game of Yahtzee. I've yet to roll my pair of sixes." X said, crouching lowly.

"Oh, this'll be fun…" Violen echoed. "I always did want to smash me a Maverick Hunter!!"

And the question rang in X's head, along with that infernal second voice.

**_Well, well now. A big, lumbering Maverick. Ordinarily, he'd seem slow, bulky…capable of taking a lot of punishment. Yet at the same time he has that tail._**

Yup. And I'll bet it isn't exactly a lovetap if it hits.

****

For this one I'll offer my help.

Piss off. I'm doing this on my own. The voice chuckled softly.

**_That's my X. Just remember, that Sub-Tank's there for a reason._**

The fight was intense, and the metallic walls of the Dino Tank had long ago all been torn to shreds by plasma thrown out from both of the fighters. X had his trusty Busters, yet Violen had shown a particular type of plasma blaster unknown to X. The trigger mechanism and barrel assembly didn't require a Buster, rather it seemed to X that the Maverick Violen merely pointed with his palm and several furious blasts of power came burning out towards X in a scatterburst. 

But the plasma Violen threw out was little more than annoyance compared to that mace attached to his backside. It did more than merely get thrown out once, as Violen demonstrated his insane ability to have it bounce off ceilings, walls and floors in a frenetic ricochet that more often than not had the devastating potential to turn X into a grease spot.

"How ya like THAT?!" Violen laughed crazily, leaping high into the air and unleashing a spray of plasmafire towards X down below.

The Maverick Hunter was panting now. At best, he'd managed to melt some of that insane armor off of Violen, yet the Maverick had gotten in some good plasma bursts. Thankfully, he had yet to hit with that tail. Of course, maybe X had gotten stronger.

Violen came crashing down again, and X hit him full bore with both Busters at full charge. The Maverick roared as another microlayer of his protection burned away, and hastily threw his tail out towards X again.

The menacing mace's aim was true, but X was far speedier than the lumbering Violen, and backblasted away from the impact. The tail came up in its predictable ricochet, and X unleashed the smaller green streamer he'd been saving up. Lacking time to charge up another shot, he brought up his special weapons grid and chose the Spin Wheel, his blue and partially white armor shifting and fading into green and white. Calmly, he pulled his Buster's trigger and watched as out of thin air, a powerful sawblade came into existence and landed on the ground, tearing off at high speed until it struck Violen's foot and began to chew its way through.

The Maverick screamed again, yet this time from pain and not rage. Pulling his tail in as quick as he could, he hopped up into the air to unleash another wave of plasma. X switched back over to his normal Buster and began charging again.

"You're dead, X. DEAD!!" 

_Boy, that's a lousy taunt if I've heard one._

****

X, WATCH OUT!!! 

X frowned and watched closer…far too late. Unlike in previous attempts, Violen hadn't froze in the air to fire at him. Instead, he was coming down full bore…intending to smash X to pieces underneath his bulk.

"Aaaw, CHRIST!!" Yelped the new Blue Bomber, quickly dashing out of the way. Making haste towards the other end of the room, X didn't see Violen land with his right arm extended out towards him and begin to fire.

Unlike before, the plasma spewed by Violen was accurate. X had frozen in the headlights…hadn't predicted the Maverick would change strategies…and was now in hot water.

He cried out as the hot plasma bored into his backside and easily ate away at the unprotected basic armor he had been bestowed with at birth. His pain sensors went berserk, and X collapsed onto the ground unaware of everything but the maddening sense of destruction that had occurred unto him.

But Violen had more planned…

X's cried intensified as the heavy spiked mace of Violen slammed full force into his wounded backside, puncturing through the armor and almost reaching his very vitals…his Microfusion Tank, his backbone, as vital for neural control over his body as it was in humans…and the blood vessels…

A warning signal began to flash in the corner of X's eye.

**Armor breach. Chest cavity exposed. Recommend immediate medical attention and stasis.**

**__**

Well, this is a fine mess you've gotten yourself into. 

It hurts…God, it hurts…

**You've done worse to others. Now stop the bellyaching, drain that Sub-Tank you've been saving, and get ready to take Violen down…HARD.**

I can't…

"I can't…I can't…" X wheezed. "Pain…the pain…"

Violen laughed as he retracted his mace back to its stationary position and began to trudge towards his foe.

"I figured as much. The others thought strategy and fancy weapons could defeat you. Leave it to dumb old me to realize it'd take an incredible amount of armor and some serious physical weaponry to…" Violen's laughs sputtered out as he doubled over and coughed.

Coughed blood. Not like X could see it. But Violen realized what had occurred. He'd won by the narrowest of margins. One, maybe two more full powered plasma supershots by the little boy blue and he'd be in just as dire a condition as the other X-Hunters.

X clamped his eyes shut and put more power to his auditory sensors. He activated his backup circuits and commanded his body to drain a Sub-Tank, feeling instant relief as the energy was routed to the nanobots in his bloodstream that went about sealing his wounds. The damage to his armor they couldn't fix…but it took him out of critical and gave him a second wind. Quickly, he drew in his concentration and began to charge both arms up. He'd need this final blast…he knew Violen was close to defeat.

Violen finally reached X and dragged the Hunter up by his head, the Maverick's massive hand easily dwarfing X's helmet. Raggedly, Violen breathed through his nose as he looked at X.

"You're trouble, I'll admit that…you're just no match for me." X didn't say anything, didn't respond. He merely kept his low level Buster charge rate continuing, low so the Maverick would not hear a whine or see a flickering aura of purple about him. "Agile, he was just cocky. He had it coming. Serges…he was never built to fight intense." X fought the urge to grin at Violen's horrific language use. "But me…ME, X…It was ME who found Zero in pieces in Sigma's Flying Fortress…ME who took them back to Serges as a momento…ME who has now defeated YOU!!!" X popped his eyes open at that and glowered at him.

"Every time you open your mouth, you prove you're an idiot." Violen's eyes shot wide apart in surprise. Surprise too late…

X lifted his arms up and morphed them into Busters, then fired at point blank.

The final vestiges of Violen's incredible armor vanished in the plasma's fire, and the shot separated the two.

X landed on his feet, breathing heavily and holding his Buster at the ready. Violen skidded to a halt and did not move an inch.

"I won." X spat back. "Not you." Violen could not even offer a groan. Damaged beyond his ability to move, even speech was something he lacked.

X came closer to Violen and pointed his Buster at the Maverick's head.

"Zero's legs. NOW." Violen could not move his arms. Could not move his legs. Could not even groan from the intense pain.

Only his eyes moved. And they moved towards the nearby wall. X walked over and examined it.

This one was a natural compartment of the Dino Tank, unlike the hidden safe of the past two X-Hunters. Grimacing, X pulled what was left of the hatch away, trying to push back the despair as it fell off of its hinge with ease.

**_I sure hope you didn't blow his legs to slag in this fight._**

I sure hope one day you'll shut up and never bother me again.

Gingerly, X reached inside…

And with trembling hands, removed a pair of perfect legs, dash boots attached.

He let out a long sigh.

At long last…

All of Zero was back in Hunter hands.

"Zero…we're gonna get you back." X vowed. "Hazil'll fix you up…don't worry…"

"X…" Groaned Violen at long last. The Maverick Hunter turned and glowered.

"What do you want?"

"Kill…me…" X widened his eyes at that.

**_Well, this is familiar. Does he sound a bit like Overdrive Ostrich?_**

Oh, come on! How can I be expected to honor a request like that?!

****

Well, you kill Mavericks when they DON'T ask for it…Look at it from his perspective. He isn't smart. All he had going for him was his pride and his physical ability. You've managed to overcome both. Even if he manages to limp back home, it will be in shame. He's failed. They may kill him, may exile him for his failure. Right now, death is the more favorable option to him.

Then let him live.

"No." X said quietly. "Violen, you set up this trap. It failed. Live with that defeat." Calmly, X walked out of the other side of the room through a second rotating door. The outside of the Dino Tank, and the airspace outside the full alert EM shield beckoned.

Violen lay there and blinked his eyes shut. For the first time in his life, he shed tears, water formed over his optics until it blurred his vision.

"Unification in Jeopardy…I'm a failure…Failure…" He whispered. Using what was left of his power, he reached into his now exposed chest compartment and pulled out his transporter. The Dino Tank would take another 30 minutes before it went off full alert for power conservation.

That was time X had given the Maverick to wallow in his shame.

And Violen vowed…

"I'll get you, X…" His voice was weak, but the determination was strong. Fatigued, his arm dropped back down to his side, transporter in hand.

"I'll get you…"

Cain and the MHHQ had heard about X's success in the Geothermal base quite a while ago, and expectantly they had waited for their Blue Bomber to return.

Hazil was making a very unexpected house call in the War Room, choosing to remain close to where first mention of their hero's return would come. Cain nervously fidgeted in his chair, the coffee mug full of brown liquid long since gone lukewarm and unattended. There were some newbies in the room, Cain noticed. He grimaced and checked himself. Correction, they were all 'newbies.' But they were learning, at least. They were taking their duties seriously, as they well should. Mankind's fate rested in their hands, and at the moment the very figurehead of the Hunters had yet to return.

All were nervous. It shouldn't have taken X this long to get back…Had he succeeded, only to be taken down?

Cain cleared his throat and motioned to a nearby attendant to take the cold coffee away. He rubbed at his eyes and tried to clear his mind. No, now was not the time to ponder such things. 

A chirping signal from the nearby scanning station caused the tech to look up with hope in his eyes.

"It's X!!" He quickly turned back down and continued to read the data. "Hazil, Cain…" He turned to them with a look of worry on his face.

"He's in the Medical Bay…" Hazil's eyes darkened.

"Sod it." The doctor growled, taking off at high speed with his tread basin down an exit and through the hall that would lead him to his station.

Cain turned to the warp tech and snapped tersely, "You're in charge!!" Before hopping down and hobbling along at his much slower pace towards the Medical Bay.

When Cain got there, it seemed as though his namesake had come to wreak his own form of destruction. X was gasping, wheezing, struggling against Hazil's ministrations as the doctor tried furiously to put him into stasis. 

"Get out of my HEAD!! GET OUT!!" Cain widened his eyes when X's struggles turned him over and revealed the extent of his damage.

Almost all of his back was ripped wide open, and purple blood was now long since dried. 

But there was fresh blood as well…

"Oh my dear Lord…" Cain uttered. 

"Hold still, damnit! I'm trying to save your life here!!" Hazil cursed at the Hunter.

Moaning, X clutched at his head and clenched his eyes shut.

"Go away, go away, go away…" Hazil finally noticed that the father of all reploids had entered the room. Grimacing, the doctor shook his head.

"I know, I know. He hasn't looked this banged up in a long time." Hazil grunted as X's howls grew louder and he struggled some more. Forcefully, the doctor pushed the Hunter back to the cot. "And it's not HELPING MATTERS HE'S GOING INSANE!!" He had to scream to make himself heard over the racket produced by Light's last creation.

Thankfully, X's strength ebbed and gave out, and the Hunter collapsed into involuntary stasis. Hazil let out a sigh of relief and pulled out his diagnostic scanner.

"Thought he'd never stop." Gingerly, Cain approached the table.

"How bad is it?"

"Well, the big gaping mess of crushed armor you see here was caused by something big, blunt, and powerful. Almost like someone took a sledgehammer to him…a twenty ton sledgehammer…" The doc shook his head. "But that doesn't account for all the damage. He's got substantial plasma wounds as well…and I think that happened after his beating. Needless to say, he's lucky he made it back THIS intact." Hazil paused to look at his forensic results and whistled appreciatively. "Damned lucky."

"Will he…"

"Make it? You betcha. There's a reason I've stayed here this long, doc." Hazil said with a twinkle in his eye. "These guys just can't live without me. Still, I am going to have a long talk with X when he wakes up. Something's going on inside that skull of his…and this scanner's only turning up green. Whatever it is, only he knows about it."

"You're saying he's going insane?" Cain said meekly. Hazil gave a slight heave of his shoulders.

"Well, he wasn't yelling at me, I can tell you that…But he was successful on all counts." Hazil motioned to a dimmed corner of the Medical Bay Cain hadn't noticed before. 

The archaeologist trotted over a few steps before narrowing his vision.

He froze a moment later.

The darkness held many secrets…

But now it held all of Zero. In pieces, of course, but…

"He did it, Cain." Hazil said softly. "Against all odds, this little guy managed to win out and get back our best Hunter ever."

"You can rebuild him?"

"Hell, most of the work's already done FOR ME. I've just never reinitialized a reploid before…it's a field of medicine I didn't study in, reanimation…" Hazil ran a hand through his hair. "And results from people who HAVE shows that there's a very good chance the reanimated reploid loses some of their memories."

"I know, I know…" Cain said gingerly, rubbing at his temples. "It's something I never did understand from Light's schematics…Something about the reinitialization of a reploid's control chip after sustained deactivation causes it to dump small bits and pieces of the RAM cache."

"And nobody on Earth's ever figured it out?"

"Afraid not. There are people who get degrees in robotics far beyond my capacity…And even THEY can't stop it from happening. The control chip is delicate a component enough." Hazil shrugged.

"I'll try my best then. But for now, my primary concern is for the living." He motioned to the door. "No disrespect doc, but get out. Tell the troops their indomitable leader'll make it through just fine." 

Cain nodded, but didn't smile.

"He's gone through Hell for us."

"Who do you mean by 'us', Cain?"

"Humans." The doctor offered meekly, hobbling towards the door. "And yet all the while, the race he seeks to protect continues to be biased against him and all his children, to the point of seeking their extermination. He's forever changed because of the horrors in his life…and he's barely two years old."

Cain walked out of the room, and the lights dimmed down some until Hazil was comfortable with the luminescence level. He smiled as he looked down on the fatigued and battered frame of X, then clucked his tongue and reached for his tools.

"He's a lot older than that, Cain. Old enough to be a savior."

"For everyone."


	11. Junkyard Wars

**__**

MEGA MAN X: ISLAND OF AWAKENING

By Erico

CHAPTER NINE: JUNKYARD WARS

"That's half our Maverick Generals…" Said Agile tersely. "HALF." The walls of the structure entitled 'Ice Fortress' didn't respond. Neither did the Mavericks hustling about, using their powers not to destroy for once, but to turn the makeshift structure of metal walls, wiring, passages and power generators into a true Maverick Fortress.

Thankfully, it seems that X had gotten scraped up badly as well in the fight with Violen. That one saving grace had given their forces on Cornus a breather. Although it wasn't much…Serges had spent six hours on Violen, and the bulky reploid was still as traumatized as any of them.

"Perhaps we're just not strong enough." Agile muttered to himself. None of the Maverick techs and construcbots minded his musings, and Serges and Violen were still at the Central Computer base with Magnus, patching up Violen and making sure the remaining forces were running at full speed.

And Agile had his doubts about their strength. Each had tried a different tactic, a different mode. Yet somehow X held within him a scrutinizing mind perfectly suited for analytical battle…and his opponents always fell.

Agile looked at his hand. At one time, it had been capable of taking out entire squads of reploid forces. And now that X had taken him out with seemingly minimal effort…

Hell, he was just another reploid concerned for his mortality. The term Maverick wasn't nearly as potent.

Mavericks didn't fear death. Mavericks gave it, and when it came, they embraced it without remorse. That was the way of the Maverick.

So why then after surviving death did Agile feel so…

"Afraid." He finished out loud. 

Still, no one replied.

Agile didn't sigh, didn't groan. He merely accepted what had transpired and turned back to his work.

He'd have to keep this to himself.

But Mavericks didn't have doubts either…

Did they??

X blinked his eyes and stared for a few moments.

_I'm alive. . .alive. . ._

**No duh, Detective. The Mavericks ain't dead yet.** X's face broke into a frown.

_So you're still around?_

**Until this is over. Then I might consider leaving.**

Hazil appeared in the corner of X's vision, his face its usual mask of growly distaste.

"Well, looks like our new Blue Bomber's up and around. How goes it, X?" 

"I feel like Hell." X said, unclenching his fists. Hazil clucked.

"That's because when you came in, you'd arrived from it." Hazil put a datapadd down on X's chest armor and rolled back a few inches, raising a hand up to rub at his chin thoughtfully. "And not all of the damage was physical, either."

"Oh?" X said questioningly. Hazil narrowed his vision.

"I'm afraid so, bub. When you came in, you were screaming and thrashing around and telling someone…who WASN'T ME…to get out of your head." Hazil looked at X expectantly. "Spill it."

X pursed his lips for a moment and decided to run some system scans instead. 

All results were nominal. If there was one thing Hazil did well, it was fixing up Hunters from the brink of destruction. That's why he was still around…because it sure as Hell wasn't the pay.

"Well?!" Hazil chirped. "Gonna answer me, or am I going to have to disconnect your vox processor to match your new career as a mime?"

"I'm not going nuts." X muttered.

"What?"

"I said you don't need to wrap me up in a strait jacket. Christ, Hazil!" Hazil coughed for a moment.

"Well, what is it then? If you're not going nuts, what's going on?"

"I'd feel more comfortable talking to Cain about this, to tell you the truth…" X said softly. Hazil heard that clearly enough.

"Cain may have brought you into this world, but he ain't your doctor. I am, and unless you tell me what's going on inside that cryptic mind of yours, I can't help you."

"What, can't you scan me?" X asked with an upraised eyebrow. Hazil shook his head.

"You and Zero are just far too different from other reploids…in a lot of respects, your schematics seem to resemble each other's almost down to the wiring. No, I can't download shit from Zero's mind, and I can't scan yours." X blinked for a moment.

"That's crazy."

"You're a prototype, X." Hazil reminded him. He turned to the sections of Zero off in his corner of the Medical Bay. "And I'm beginning to wonder about him as well…" X pulled himself up from the medical cot and gave himself a visual scan. All the armor chinks, scrapes, and gaping holes had been repaired. X paled.

"How long was I out?"

"About a day now." X shook his head.

"Christ, that long?" Hazil turned about, looking exasperated.

"Look, pal. You don't just get up from the sort of wounds you sustained yersterday, all right?!" Hazil groaned. "It's December 27th, 2118. Now that your chronometer's been reset, I suggest you tell me about what the Hell is going on on the inside of that mind of yours before I say to Hell with the impossibility and rip out your CPU for PAINFUL TESTING!!"

"All right, all right." X said soothingly. "Just remember, I'm not going nuts." Hazil folded his arms.

"I'm listening." X took a deep breath.

"There's a voice in my head that's sort of been talking to me since the Second Uprising started." Hazil blinked twice and didn't shy his gaze away.

"You ARE nuts." He said finally. X shook his head.

"I told you…"

"Slag it." Hazil chirped. "I know what you said. But the simple fact is that this sorta thing doesn't exactly look good on performance reviews. What if you're in the heat of battle and you suddenly break down because this voice starts trying to start up a session of Crossfire with you on the issue of canned cheese?!"

**_Canned cheese? Herm…last reploid I remember mentioning that is Cancer._**

Shut up. Don't you DARE desecrate Cancer's name, you sick…

**Oh, har. Hazil's looking at you as the one who's sick. Sick in the mind.**

X struggled not to show the internal conversation.

"No, I don't think that'll be a problem…on several occasions, the voice has actually HELPED me to survive battles."

**_That's because you suck at fighting._**

"Oh, SHUT UP." X growled. Then he realized he'd said that out loud. He looked at Hazil, his mouth slightly open in surprise.

Hazil blinked at him for a few more moments before running a hand through his hair.

"I didn't say anything." The Medical Reploid answered finally. X shook his head.

"I know." Hazil picked up his datapadd and rolled back over to his desktop PC.

"Well…I'll have to make a note of this in the records, X. You know that, right?"

"Yeah." The Hunter replied, crestfallen.

**_Well, this is gorgeous. Perhaps next time you'll learn to not lip back, eh?_**

X didn't give the voice the pleasure of another comeback. Hazil turned back around and scrutinized the Hunter.

"Still…you're our best bet for dealing with the Cornus situation. So for the moment, I'm releasing you back to active duty. I suggest you go and check with Cain on where you need to head next." X calmly walked out of the room.

Hazil rolled over to the pile of the multi-sectioned Zero and rolled his eyes.

"For what I just did, **I **need to get my head checked. Eh, Zero?" The pile of metal, wiring and systems didn't respond. Hazil scratched at his head.

True, the pile was in good condition. 

True, Hazil had helped download a backup program into Zero's Warp Generator.

True, he'd never expected to see Zero again.

"The worst part about getting a surprise Christmas present K'nex set is realizing you don't have the instruction manual to build the friggin' Ferris Wheel." Hazil offered. 

"You Zero, are the craziest wheel of 'em all."

Every place is not without its place to send refuse…Cornus Island was no different. But due to its high level of technological advancement, Cornus's dump was pretty much a scrapyard.

No leftover coke cans or banana peels or dirty diapers. 

Morph Moth realized he had that much to be thankful for. No, instead what lay in the heaps were robots, roploids, and even the empty shells of reploids. All able to be rebuilt. All able to be reprogrammed. 

Morph Moth was a Maverick General far different than any other who'd come before. He was lightly built, like his associate Magna Centipede, relying mainly on speed, agility, and his overpowering attacks that required substantial charge time to see his way through battles. But while Magna Centipede was skilled in the art of computer CODE, a bizarre field that allowed him to weave circles around others in the world of cyberspace and hacking, Morph Moth's skill was constructing small robots with powerful overrides.

He smiled darkly. Oh my, yes…He called them 'Skippers' for short…but in truth, they had no real name. They were controller drones…tiny little things that hopped about a set area and waited for an unfriendly to approach. When they did, they would scamper about with all speed to try and latch onto their victim.

Once that was accomplished, the poor fool was pretty much dead. Morph Moth pulled his hand, and the screwdriver in it, away from his latest little beauty. 

"Awaken, little one." He cooed softly to it. The tiny robot's servos whirred for a few moments as its CPU activated the re-initialization cycle. Then the drone flipped onto its legs and hopped to the ground, scurrying off down the hallway to whatever corridor Morph Moth had assigned it to.

"Who would have ever thought it possible a simple scrap robot would gain the ability to overpower a reploid?" Morph Moth mused to himself humorously. He'd sent off the design schematics and a squad of ten to the Ice Fortress…Agile had noted drily there was a spike lined corridor that the fleet of tiny drones would work particularly well in.

Yes, Morph Moth's primary defense against invaders was his massive horde of junkyard robots. His next one was a robotic decoy on a string that could put up enough of a fight to take out entire squads of Hunters.

The alarm buzzed as the junkyard's entry building's security camera activated. Morph frowned and turned to it. His eyes darkened.

"Well, I always did want a full test of my beauties…I suppose he'll do." Morph traced his tiny viewscreen with a gloved finger.

"Yes…Well, Mega Man X. you've faced warbots. But have you faced scrapbots?" He smirked.

"Let's try my style of fighting, then. Junkyard Wars."

"Well, here's a change of pace." X said blithely to himself. "When I turn bots to scrap, I don't have to clean up after myself." He kicked a rubber tire out of his way and looked about.

He didn't think that the Mavericks would ever degrade themselves to sticking an outpost at a junkyard. Still, Cristoph and the GDC Cornus Task Force Council'd made it all too clear that this junkyard had some pretty advanced stuff. Advanced enough that if they were diligent enough to sift through the remains, they might be able to patch together an imposing force.

As the chief Hunter and designated cannon fodder for Cornus reclamation, it was up to X, his Buster, and his wits to try and put a stop to that. 

"Join the Maverick Hunters." X snorted in disgust. Yeah, that was the stuff that was being put on the airwaves nowadays. "See the world! Save the world! Be loved by the world!" X began to charge his Buster up as he walked closer and closer to a Disk Boy 08. 

_Well, that's half true. The Maverick Hunters do save the world._

**And yet at the same time, they're shunned because of who they are. Reploids. **

_True. Now shut the Hell up. I'm in trouble because of you…_

**And the kicker is, you don't know who I am.** The voice said in a half mocking tone. X growled and took another step towards the Disk Boy guardian. Sure enough, it pulled out a boomerang discus and threw it. X leapt the shot with ease and returned fire, blowing first the shield, then the enemy itself away.

X went on inside of the first structure, warily looking about as his Buster whined with another charge. His eyes were sharp, and he didn't pale at what he saw.

Hanged reploids…dead, empty shells of the beings that they had once been. These weren't general human class, although their form was that of a human's. With faces of metal and not synthskin, they were designed solely for labor, not interaction.

Or had been, X reminded himself.

**_Well, this is a fun sight. Although I'd be keener if they were Mavericks instead of just plain joe schmoes._**

X narrowed his vision.

"Something's not right here…" Sure enough, something wasn't. One by one, the series of hanged figures opened their mouths. X widened his eyes in surprise.

_Christ, they're JURY RIGGED!!_

**Aah, now it all makes sense. It's not just decoration, el Mavericko has put plasma minicannons in their mouths. Which means they're a danger…although I have to give him credit. Surprised me for a moment.**

How much you wanna bet they rely on motion detectors to aim?

The voice seemed to ponder it for a moment.

**_Well, worth a shot. Switch to a weapon that is solid and moves._**

That'd be the Spin Wheel. Calmly, X tried to ignore the minicannons boring down onto him and calmly switched his Buster. Not moving in the slightest, he accessed the firing mechanism and gave the trigger a slight pull.

The Spin Wheel forged itself via the tiny matter replicators inherent to his Buster, then dropped to the ground and began spinning up a charge. 

The minicannons in the dead reploid's mouths activated and whined up to power, unleashing their fury where the Spin Wheel stood.

Or had stood a moment before, as it tore off to unknown regions within the junkyard's warehouse structure.

**_Well, there's your chance. Switch back over to normal and let 'em have it before they re-target!!_**

For once, I don't need you to tell me what to do.

X's armor went back to its normal blue and white, and then he sprayed the ceiling with devastating plasmafire. The jury rigged reploid carcasses vanished away from the barrage, and once again X was left standing alone. He stared up towards the door he'd come from, and noticed a security camera. Frowning, he stared at it.

"Where there's a camera, there's a Maverick watching. Nice tricks, bub. But it takes more than tricks to take me down." He calmly raised his Buster again and blew the camera away.

Moving on, he stopped where his Spin Wheel had ended its trip. Strangely enough, it had seemed to bury itself into the floor slightly.

**_Well, here's something interesting. When in a junkyard, you dig for gold._**

Or Sub-Tanks.

X unleashed a few more Spin Wheels into the buried shaft, turning the blockage to rubble enough so that he could make his way down.

Two minutes later, he popped back out of the hole, with only his head unadorned in shimmering white, gold, and red armor.

He took a moment to look at himself.

**_I'd say this set's looking niftier than the last one. _**

Oh? Why is that?

**Before, you looked like some sort of freakin' Paladin on a Holy Quest for Mary's handkerchief or something. Hell, now you're an imposing bringer of death bristling with power.**

Yes, the G-Crush. But how good will it do in battle?

**Get into one and find out.**

You'll leave when I'm done with all this?

**And not a moment before then. I know, I know, you hate me, you question your own sanity. Don't. I'm just the voice of someone who doesn't want to see you get wiped across the tarmac.**

Someone dead?

**Depends on the definition of 'death.'**

All right. The Maverick who's running this show??

**Oh, he's dead.** The voice replied drily. X couldn't help but smile at that.

"I don't get it…" Morph Moth whispered in disbelief. "How could he have known…??" Those hanged reploids had been set up to look like mere decorations. How could X have known they presented a danger? By all accounts, he should have taken mild to moderate damage from their barrage, yet now he walked on…and according to the security cameras X HADN'T blown up yet, wearing new armor. Not just his feet and hands now, no. His chest as well. 

The new armor seemed far different than anything that Maverick could recall laying his eyes on. Aside from the white sheen and the obvious colorations and markings, there seemed to be an air about it. Morph Moth pondered it for a moment before realizing that there was only one way to test exactly what the Maverick Hunter was capable of.

X was moving along at a clipped and steady pace, his Buster unleashing plasma fury when the need be. And soon, he would approach a room filled with junk…but more than junk.

It also contained his latest piggybacking robot, still unused in its stasis tubule. The room also held a decrepit old robot standing more than six feet in height, with imposing armor even in its state of disuse that was potent enough to deflect plasma, if hit wrong. Morph couldn't help but smile.

"Yes…We'll test X's abilities out." Calmly, he tapped in a series of commands into the keyboard of his lair. The monitor displaying his active units in green, and his destroyed ones in red lit up with another signature as a pulsating green flared up only a corridor away from the approaching blue signature.

That would be X, continually observed by Morph Moth's cameras. 

Well, not his. The junkyard's.

Morph didn't think the dead humans buried behind the building would mind.

X came through the empty doorframe with his senses on high alert. No hanging reploids, no garakuta junk robot wheels, and no Disk Boys were in the room.

Still, its very design made the Hunter tense up and narrow his eyes.

_This doesn't feel right._

**Hot damn!!**

What?

**I didn't need to tell you that for once. Good job!!**

Oh, please. I'm talking to myself here. I'm not asking for advice from you.

Sure enough, X tuned the voice in his head out and looked about the large sized room more carefully. There was plenty of suspicious articles around. Like the large and decrepit old robot lying over in the far corner of the room, deactivated and useless. Or so the Maverick in control of the junkyard would have X think.

It was the sound of cracking glass…or high tempered plastics, X wasn't sure…but it definitely drew his attention away from the old wreck lying prominently in the room.

The cracking sound was coming from a green glowing stasis tubule…and something was coming out of it. X braced himself and began to charge up his Buster. 

Finally, the cracks in the clouded container blew outwards as shards of the protective barrier clattered to the junk strewn ground with an odd combination of clinking and dull thuds. The figure within emerged.

X blinked a few times at the oddity. It was a small robot, colored pink, with seemingly little combat ability. His guard fell down as the tiny creature clumsily hopped down to the ground and whirred its head left and right. All in all, it sort of resembled an insect.

_Any thoughts?_

**That's one messed up piece of machinery. Waste of a stasis tubule too.**

I don't know. There's more to this than we're supposed to think.

**Exactly. Initial impressions are hardly the right ones when it comes to battle.**

The tiny insectoid robot took a few clumsy hops away from X…

Towards the old decrepit robot left abandoned in the room's far corner.

As X watched, the tiny robot burrowed itself into the framework of the older, deactivated machine…

And then by some unknown power, managed to turn the juggernaut back on. 

Like Lazarus in biblical texts, the behemoth rose from its grave by the touch of a figure few believed in. Only this Lazarus wasn't in the mood to shake a person's hand.

X's eyes couldn't help but widen as the massive metal beast came fully to its feet. It stood at least a good seven feet tall…probably more.

_Well, there's the surprise._

**Not a bad one. I just hope that thing's as clumsy as it is old.**

Tiny rocket thrusters on the robot's backside lit up and it floated up into the air…

Then promptly flung itself down towards X in a kamikaze crash. 

Yelping, the Hunter activated his dash thrusters and boosted out of the giant's way, feeling the impact of its landing as his feet touched ground again. He quickly raised his Busters and fired one, then another supershot. Two bright shining balls of plasma, a second purple wave roiling about the second blue shot flew on towards X's foe and struck dead on in its backside. The thrusters were knocked out of commission.

The robot itself remained undamaged. 

_SHEEIT…_

**Yeah, heavily armored drone. I'm surprised you didn't think of that contingency. **

Oh, excuse me?! Whose life is on the line here, again?!

The robot took several plodding steps to turn itself around, not giving X much of a chance to build up another shot. While its thrusters, and therefore its aerial diving ability was shot, the thing still had enough momentum going for it with its powerful piston legs to hop about and try to crush X.

As far as X could see, the thing had only one weakness: the hole in its chest armor that the robot insect had crawled into. 

"Oh, this twit's going down." X growled. "HARD." 

The robot jumped closer and closer, each jump substantial but mostly vertical, his horizontal distance closing slowly. The time it took was more than enough for X to reach his peak charge.

Once more, two flaming balls of plasma were flung from the miniaturized heavy plasma cannons in X's arms. Only this time, the shots were more effective. The robot's insides were blown out of its back, and crumbled back into the dust.

Unharmed however, was the primary pink colored controlling insectoid. It danced about for a moment in the newly laden wreckage, then burrowed down into the compacted metal that served as the floor.

"Oh, Christ…" X muttered. "The one that got away." 

**_Keep on your toes, he may come up for air._**

_Or blood._

Sure enough, the ground began to shake. X took a quick mental check of his Buster charge-Level 2- and waited.

The ground parted some distance away from X as a SECOND lumbering robot came back from the dead. X shook his head.

_Just how many of these things are there?!_

**Plenty, as long as that little purple thing survives. May I suggest you try trying to wheedle it out of that robot like you did the last one and…**

Using the G-Crush before it can escape?? Three steps ahead of you.

Before the old robot had time to react, X unleashed his green charge and followed it up with a barrage of smaller bursts. Sure enough, the robot crumpled over and began to spout smoke as the internal mechanics were destroyed.

And like before, the purple robot found that escape from its shell was the best option.

Unlike before, X was somehow hovering in the air with every single limb curled up inwards towards his chest. A low growl began to rustle about in his throat, then grew louder until at last he screamed.

A powerful locus of light flashed outwards from his glittering chest armor, surrounding the curled up Maverick Hunter in a brief protective barrier. Finally, he flung his arms and legs outwards until he was splayed against the air like a rag doll.

But the effect was potent enough. A powerful energy explosion from within flew outwards in all directions, the built up plasma charge eating away at everything with far more intensity and stamina than what his Buster could throw.

The old robot, despite its initial damage was completely blown apart by the maelstrom. And the pitiful little pink armored insect robot, with a knack for resurrecting decrepit piles of scrap, was flung against the far wall before the plasma explosion caused it to explode in a smaller, but noticeable puff of energy and smoke.

X dropped back down to the floor and drew in a breath.

Every inch of the room was scarred in blackness, charred by the pure power of the furious attack. 

_God help me…_

**WOW!! WHAT POWER! I'M LOVING IT! DO IT AGAIN, DO IT AGAIN!!!**

Shaddap. X chided. _The G-Crush works on a one shot system…I gotta get smacked around a bunch and let my armor absorb some blows before it'll function again._

**_Aw, Hell. That makes it pretty much useless! What good's an all powerful weapon that can blow apart foes in a single flash if you can't do it fifteen times over?!_**

I suppose it never occurred to you that it was built for dire emergencies??

X took a moment to shake his head sadly at the utter carnage and swear off the attack ever again unless he was on the verge of death. Then he calmly walked out the other side of the room and tried to keep a focus on the Maverick waiting for him at the end of this trip.

The Maverick waiting for him was waiting with wide eyes as he typed a message to go to the Central Computer Facility. His allies needed to be informed of this attack.

"Such power…in just one blow??!" Morph Moth shivered.

He didn't look forward to feeling its burning wrath himself.

Hazil checked the stats of Zero again, activating piece by piece of his body by power wires running rampant about him like a misplaced plate of spaghetti. 

All results came up green. Aside for the head and control chip, which Hazil had left untouched as of yet for good reason, the rest of Zero was in perfect working order, its abilities increased many times past what he had held previously. All the same, the changes were a bit haphazard, and for the first time as he stared at the interior of Zero, Hazil had to whistle.

Yes, the Crimson Hunter wasn't the average reploid, and wasn't built like one. In almost every respect, his interior schematics and wiring were similar to X's. X had been the prototype of all reploids.

"So what does that make you then??" Hazil muttered. Zero didn't respond. Hazil unhooked the power connections and shrugged. Before he put blood into Zero—not a human's blood, which carries oxygen and nutrients, but the blood of reploids, which was purplish in color and carried pure energy in the nanobots ever present—He had to reconnect every single section of Zero. That meant his legs and lower torso went to his chest and arms, and his head went back where it belonged as well.

Hazil shook his head.

It was a bit morbid…compared to robots, who were merely plug and go in design, the workings of most reploids were far more complex. Built to look, think, and emulate humans, there came along with reploids the synthskin, present even UNDERNEATH the armor of some reploids like himself, not to mention the other bizarre workings. 

Hazil had often thanked the late Doctor Light for giving X the ability to completely shift out of his armor and into more suitable clothes, such as a white shirt and blue jeans. That ability had been passed onto other reploids as well in the early generation of constructions. Newer reploids out today lacked this function, manufacturers leery to give a potentially dangerous foe the ability to blend in almost seamlessly with normal humans. While Hazil had the ability, he looked far too ludicrous, with his four arms and boxlike chest. Others however, could roam about in a normal manner, truly being what the reploids were supposed to be; robotic humans.

But that was beside the point, albeit a crucial diversion. A weaving of fake flesh and robotics, a reploid was not the easiest thing to rebuild. In fact, initial tests had shown the RAM cache's involuntary dump could be lessened if the reanimated reploid's control chip was reactivated slowly, instead of quickly. Hazil, wanting to preserve as much as he could of the original Zero, knew that patience would be his dearest friend.

"First things first." He clucked. "We stick your body together minus the head, stick the control chip IN the head, then apply some power to your head alone and give it the chance to fully reintegrate that blasted thing that makes you you." He grinned at the jumbled mess, feeling a little like Baron Von Frankenstein must have…if Mary Shelley's tale had been true, that is.

But screw Fiction. Hazil was pulling down the real deal. Cackling, he rubbed his hands together and turned to the wall clock.

"You're one screwy mysterious reploid Zero, but I'll be damned about that. You're being turned back into the menacing Maverick Hunter we all know you are, and as Cain, Bolt Eagle, and whoever the Hell made you is my witness, YOU'RE GONNA BY GOD LIVE!!"

Hazil liked the feeling he got when he said that. Sort of a tingly sensation. Of course, maybe it was just the situation. He liked saving lives.

This was a very important one.

Morph Moth sat back by his computer console, silently watching the glowing screen fill with data.

The reply back from Ice Fortress, properly routed through the Central Computer complex to not betray the signal source, was less than promising.

In summary, it simply said Morph Moth was on his own to deal with X.

"Well, there's a joyous occasion." The Maverick grumbled. "Onward marches the slayer of Sigma, eyes burning brightly as his Buster burns for my blood, and the best my base can say is 'good luck, chuck.' Screw 'em." He pushed the keyboard away, shaking his head disgustedly.

"Screw 'em." Morph took a moment to examine where X was.

Not far now. . .the wily Blue Hunter had found little problem in dealing with his second possessed Old Robot. . .And then had moved on past the spike pits and controlling insectoid bots of Morph's design with nary a problem. Even the massive green Super'Mech guarding the final stretch to the room below his current position was showing heavy dam. . .

Never mind, it had just been scrapped. Morph pounded an angry fist on his leg.

"I'm dead." He said quietly. He shrugged. There were worse ways to go, he supposed.

And then it gripped him. . .

His eyes grew hard and firm, and he clenched his fist up.

"You won't beat me, X. You won't." He stood up and watched his monitor again. X was fast coming. 

Quietly, he opened the hole in the floor. . .the ceiling for the room below, and activated his battle pod. It chittered to life, its eyes flashing into existence for a moment before it quietly slipped down the hole on the end of a long metallic string.

Morph turned to his monitor, watching as the camera feed from his toy snapped to life.

X walked through the inner rotating gateway and stared at the device for a moment. Morph shut the roof hatch softly and waited.

"This can't be the Maverick in charge here…" X grumbled softly as the machine dropped to the ground and began to spin back and forth across the room madly, kicking up damaging scrap wherever it went.

Morph Moth couldn't believe how easily the drone was destroyed. It couldn't have taken X more than. . .forty seconds, tops?

And that weapon of his. . .

It had to be the Weapons Copy X had received from Flame Stag. It was powerful, all right. . .

And seeing as, like most everything he built, Morph Moth was made of malleable metal, that particular weapon, something Flame Stag had affectionately called the Speed Burner, would be devastatingly effective.

Still…

He was Maverick. He was part of a proud line of reploids that fought, and fought well. Fought to the death. And if X thought this would be an easy time, he was in for a big surprise.

Below, X jumped back in surprise as the ceiling exploded and collapsed in heavy chunks. He raised his Buster and blew away a section of flooring before it could crush him, then looked up above. 

A figure, brightly colored and looking out of place with the rest of the room, flapped its metallic wings heartily to keep itself airborne.

X's face shifted into a frown and he readied his Speed Burner, now down to 60% power.

"Now YOU're the Maverick running the show."

"That I am." Morph said calmly. "The name's Morph Moth…I created those little insect-like robotic beauties you destroyed." X blinked a few times.

"Not bad engineering concepts…too bad you have to be Maverick."

"Something puzzled me, though." Morph Moth said warily, lifting an eyebrow. "Those Skeeters should only be able to control the movements of robots…tests on reploids proved negative."

"Well, the answer lies in the simple fact that I'm not a reploid." X shot back. "I'm the prototype for all reploids."

"Aah." Morph Moth said, realizing the grievous error in his ways. No wonder X was affected…he was nothing more than the robotic prototype for reploids. "so it could be said in a sense, you're the father of reploids?"

"Yes." X growled.

"And now you hunt your children." Morph said drily. "How wonderful."

"Just die." X muttered, raising his Buster and firing.

And the fight began.

Agile had been changed.

Before, he'd been cocky, self-assured…confident.

Now, he merely hid in the still yet uncompleted Ice Fortress and bided his time, overseeing the construction and watching their supposedly successful Second Maverick Uprising crumble away just as quickly as the first had. 

"Sir? Sir Agile?" 

"Huh?" The tall reploid blinked his red beyond red optics and looked down at a smaller Maverick construction director staring up at him expectantly.

"Yes?"

"The sewer system is in place, and as per your specifications, we've set it up to be the second ring of the Fortress."

"Good. And the first and third?"

"Those are also in place." The Maverick paused. "But we're not quite sure what to do for the inner ring."

"We haven't exactly planned it out that far." Agile sighed in exasperation. At the moment, he didn't really feel like doing much of anything. "Keep me informed, sergeant. I'm going to return to the main command chamber." The Maverick clicked his boots together and saluted, then marched off. Agile shook his head, then plodded off.

He collapsed into the padded seat that served as the command chair for the very heart of Ice Fortress's passageways. From here, he could see everything that happened in the expansive structure, direct workers and warriors, and communicate with other Mavericks.

Yet it sat useless and barely activated now, there was nothing to be turned on, no communications to be sent. The only program running was a continuous scan of the still functional Maverick Generals.

Four of the eight portraits had gone dim since December 19th.

Wheel Gator…

Overdrive Ostrich…

Wire Sponge…

Flame Stag…

Not to mention the fact that that damnable Hunter X had managed to wipe the floor with every single X-Hunter…himself included, Agile winced as he tried to block out the painful memory of losing at the warrior's dead eyes and steady hands.

And as he snapped free from that memory, a sudden blinking alerting him on the screen.

As his stunned eyes watched, the icon for Morph Moth blinked out.

"Damn, no…" And his report, which had arrived only minutes before hadn't been good. 

X somehow had an incredible new ability that hurled plasma death in every direction…

And Morph Moth was dead.

"DAMN THAT X!!" Agile bellowed, slamming his fist onto the armrest of his chair and then slumping backwards. His eyes stared into the monitor, glazed over.

"There's just nothing we can do…Except wait for X to come and kill us all."

The screen chose that moment to flicker and blink, the portraits and map of Cornus Island fading away from view and leaving nothing but a lit, black screen that filled the room with its eerie glow.

"What the…?" Agile muttered, pulling himself up straight and reaching for the keyboard.

Greenish text rolled across the screen before his hand reached the manual input device, stopping him dead in his tracks.

**Now that doesn't sound like a feared Maverick leader to me. You disappoint me, Agile.**

"WHAT THE…" Agile said loudly, his surprise evident. 

**Now tell me, were you always this much of a coward and never bothered to tell anyone, or did this yellow streak down your damnable back develop over time?**

"Just WHO the Hell are you?!" Agile demanded, typing his response in with angry chicken peck typing.

The screen wiped itself clean again, and remained blank for a few more moments.

Then the reply scrolled back across in five…separated…distinct…imposing…letters.

"Oh my God…" Agile muttered in shock, stepping back and collapsing into his chair as he stared agape at the lettering.

Once more, the screen wiped clear and the presence returned to its normal typing.

**You don't know how difficult it was for me to find you…drifting about as little more than a few Megabytes on the net is not the best way to spend one's time. Especially when you're always running into Coca-Cola advertisements, which I can assure you, I've seen enough of to last me a lifetime.**

"But why now…Why now, after all this…"

**Because I have to move slowly. Otherwise, people would notice. But now that I've found you, things are going to change, my dear Maverick. For one, your sickening defeatist attitude. Don't you realize that what makes X strong is his warrior's will? As long as he sees an enemy in front of him, an enemy he can truly hate, he will win.**

"I think that's evident now." Agile muttered softly.

**Aah, but that's just the trick, Agile. I've been watching Magnus's research, and I have found a way to stop X cold in his tracks.**

"What do you mean??" Agile said warily. "Some new kind of weapon??"

**No, far from it. As a matter of fact, it's quite old…Quite old indeed…**

The voice on the screen seemed to almost be gloating.

"What is it then?"

**Not an it. A who.**

The presence who had downloaded himself into Ice Fortress's computer banks softly gave Agile the plan.

For one, only Agile would be aware of the presence. No one else could know. 

Two, the Maverick Generals would continue to lead their operations, and if X came and took them out…it was just another cost of war.

Three, the ghost in the computer told Agile exactly what he would build in the fourth ring.

Four, just what the presence meant when he said the weapon to stop X was a WHO.

And five…That the plan was foolproof.

Agile felt a grin seeping back into his somber face.

"It can work!"

**Of course it can, you fool. Don't doubt that for a moment. Now, we need only implement it. And time is of the essence.**

"Yes, of course." Agile chirped, snapping up from his seat and nodding. "I shall go see to the inner circle modifications now." He dashed off, his bizarre attitude once more regained.

The presence in Ice Fortress's computers seemed to think for a moment longer, then as an afterthought, it sent one final message to the screen.

**I'm coming for you, X. I'm coming for revenge.**

And then the screen went dark.


	12. Crystal Hunter in a House of Glass

**__**

MEGA MAN X: ISLAND OF AWAKENING

By Erico

CHAPTER TEN: CRYSTAL HUNTER IN A HOUSE OF GLASS

"I don't suppose you're aware of a doctor's personal records, X?" Hazil muttered. X picked himself up from the Medical Cot and walked over to stand beside the medical reploid, typing nonchalantly into his database.

"No, tell me what they are." X said calmly. Somehow, he had a feeling it involved the little discussion they'd had yesterday about the voice in his head…and the fact Hazil had to make a note of it in his records. His pulse quickened, despite his best efforts to remain calm.

Hazil stopped typing, then reached down into his desk drawer and pulled out a manilla hanging folder. From it, he pulled a few sheets of paper, staring at them poignantly before turning to X.

"This is something called paper, X. It's what mankind used a long time before they had the glories of electronic filing, and still use, to a small extent, to this day."

"Yeah, and the fact that natural paper runs up in the hundreds for a ream."

"The glories of Treeborgs…" Hazil muttered. He shook his head. "Anyhow, when I do my medical checks for higher level reploids like you and Zero, I use PAPER. Not the electronic database everyone else is stored in. The real juicy stuff is kept away from hackers." He put the paper back in the manilla folder and dropped it in his desk drawer again.

"So what are you getting at?" X asked uneasily. Hazil chirped his tongue.

"Simple, my boy. The note I HAVE to make about you, as dictated by the GDC's rather imperialist policies has been noted…in a place they can't easily find it. My personal filing system."

"So in other words…"

"As far as the world's concerned, you're 100% a-OK, hunky dorey, all of the above, fit as a fiddle." Hazil shook his head. "I do this out of respect, X. You're the best Maverick Hunter we've ever had."

"No." X said firmly. "Zero was the best. And speaking of him…"

"I'm bringing him online slowly, X. To try and minimize a RAM cache dump." Hazil explained. "I could do it fast, but…"

"Don't bother repeating it. I've read the experimental results." X said calmly. "It's not a pretty sight to find a reploid with a psychotic episode going on 24 hours a day."

"So for the time being, Zero's not going to be able to help you." Hazil said calmly. X shrugged.

"I've gone it alone before under worse circumstances." Hazil's mouth quirked up in a small smile, and he nodded his head sagely.

"So you have…" He mused. "So you have." He turned back to his computer screen. "In any case, that's how it'll be. No one's gonna know about this, as long as doctor's personal files remain confidential."

"Will they?" Hazil gave X a look that suggested anyone that tried to mess with his stuff would be VERY…sorry indeed.

X smiled. "Hazil…thanks." 

"If you wanna repay the favor, I drink most anything except that wussy Budweiser piss. If not, forget about it." 

"I'll see what they carry at the local pub." X replied drily. Hazil rolled his eyes.

"Well, I don't think you'll have any time for that today. Cain's…"

"Right here." Came the gruff reply as the hydraulic doors to the rest of the MHHQ slid open. X swiveled about to see Cain hobbling in the door, carrying a datapadd in his free hand. X's eyes grew dull.

"Lemme guess. Another mission?"

**_Oh boy! Another mission! Time for more Mavericks to die!_** X rolled his eyes, and silently spoke back.

_Back again?_

**As chipper as ever, bub. But I'll just shut up and listen for now.**

Thanks.

**Anytime, friend.**

Screwy voice, X thought without transmitting it to the presence in his mind. Not long ago, it seemed to be just egging him on, trying to get a rise out of him and question his sanity. Now, it was merely content to sit back and offer pointers.

"Yes, another mission X." Cain sighed wearily. "I don't particularly like sending ANYONE out to do these, but the GDC…"

"Save it, Cain." X muttered. Cain's jaw snapped shut, stunned in surprise at the gruffness of X's response. X waved his hand. "No, no, it's okay. I'll do it. Someone has to, otherwise the Mavericks will just keep coming back again and again."

"My God…" Cain gaped. His trembling hand reached down and touched X's altered wrist. X frowned.

"What's wrong, Doc?" Cain looked at X warily.

"For a moment there…you sounded just like Zero." X blinked in shock. Cain shook his head, clearing his mind.

"Anyhow, X. Yes, your next mission will take you to the Energen Mining Facility on Cornus. The GDC Cornus Task Force Council believes that some of the Mavericks on Cornus are holed up at the island's gem…pardon the pun…and are mining Energen crystals for use in everything from energy storage batteries to focusing gems." X looked down at his Buster.

"You mean like the ones used in Busters?"

"And much larger assemblies." Cain grumbled. "Larger Energen crystals are perfect for large scale plasma cannons and lasers. If the Mavericks get a substantial pile of those gems, it's not gonna be pretty." X hopped to his feet.

"Well, not for long. Mayhaps I'll find something else useful there…I've already got two Sub-Tanks and some of Light's next-gen armor, minus the helmet." Cain clicked his tongue.

"Light's capsules…they seem to show up whenever you need them the most."

"You mean, when I need to become a killer." Hazil coughed loudly.

"Pardon me for saying this, but no matter what you think you are, you're humanity's best shot at NOT getting wiped off the face of this planet by the rebellious elements of our race."

"Well, there's incentive." X muttered.

_Well, I suppose we'd best get going. Who knows? Maybe I'll find that diamond ring I've always wanted._

**Say WHAT?! What would you need a diamond ring for?!**

Just in case.

**In case what??**

Are you purposefully this dense, or do you merely wish not to accept that there are more emotions out there than destructive ones?

**Don't make me puke, X. I'm dead. You wanna see a dead guy vomit!?**

X chortled. Cain blinked.

"Something funny about this?"

"No, no." X replied. "I just thought about something rather silly." Cain turned to Hazil.

"Did he make his physical in the green?" Hazil put on an innocent stare and flung his hands in the air.

"Don't look at me for a reason to keep him restricted to base. The guy's our best Hunter, and he checked out fine." Cain rolled his eyes. 

"If you say so, Hazil." Cain handed X the datapadd. "Warp coordinates for just inside the entrance to the facility are clearly marked. Do us all a favor and come back alive."

"That shouldn't be a problem." X said, examining the data. "From the looks of things, this place won't exactly be bristling with top of the line defense. Last place I visited had JUNK to fight me with."

He stared up at the ceiling, then warped out.

Cain didn't say anything for a moment, then turned to Hazil.

"Do you suppose the Mavericks are worse off than we thought?" Hazil shrugged nonchalantly.

"Maybe." He turned and looked at Cain with his calm rational eyes. "Or maybe they're hiding their true power from us." 

That thought sent a chill down the human's all too vulnerable spine.

"Using the fourth ring as a dead-end, filled with warp capsules to various rooms with Maverick blanks?!" Serges half shouted. Agile winced. "Just WHO THE FRACK TOLD YOU YOU COULD DO THAT?!" The Maverick running Ice Fortress scratched his chin for a moment.

"You know Serges, you're not the only one who gets brilliant ideas every now and then." Agile finally replied. "You should give me more credit." Serges sighed in exasperation, then shook his head.

"Well, whatever then. Something needed to be built there. And I suppose that fits the bill. Did you change anything else?"

"All previous plans for Ice Fortress remain intact." Agile said calmly. "But I'd like to know when we'll get that data from Magna Centipede about emulating X's warp signature." 

"Violen is with him right now, taking the data manually. Once he has it, he'll make a warp-in to Ice Fortress."

"With the scrambler intact, yes?" Agile noted dolefully. "The last thing we need is the GDC or the Maverick Hunters getting ahold of this place's location."

"Oh, please." Serges scoffed. "He may be dumber than the two of us, but he's not an IDIOT. He'll make it as scheduled with the data. Your people at Ice Fortress should be able to construct the warp emulation generator without a problem."

"Why not just build it there?"

"It's complicated, Agile." Serges explained slowly. "Listen, building this unit is going to take more than a day as is. At the rate X is going, he'll eventually attack the Central Computer complex, and ruin our final stronghold on Cornus. Trust me, we don't have the time here. There, you do."

"Understood." Agile clicked his tongue. "Well, I'll see Violen when he gets here. Be sure to evacuate if X gets too close for comfort…we'll need your talents here."

"There's a laugh." Serges muttered. "Little boy blue is blowing up Mavericks left and right, and my dear comrade in arms tells me I need to stay alive to help save them." Serges cut off the comm signal and Agile was left in the darkness of the Ice Fortress's main control room…No other Maverick present.

The viewscreen flickered to life, and a familiar green text type rolled across the screen.

**Depression must be common among Mavericks these days…just shows how pitiful you all are.**

"Quiet." Agile muttered under his breath. "Serges, Violen and I are under a lot of stress. You think it's easy leading a group of dangerous reploids about when everyone in the world wants you dead?"

**No, it isn't. Still, you should be doing something about it instead of just moping. Right now, you and your cronies look pathetic.**

"I never ASKED for this job." Agile hissed at the screen. "I never wanted to be a leader. I was content to watch out for myself and keep it at that, and then…"

**We all must make sacrifices. Sorry if you had to lose your badass loner mask in the process, but you have bigger problems.**

"Yeah, yeah." Agile muttered, rubbing his eyes. "X."

**That Hunter is just puzzling…He claims to be pacifist, yet managed to be the only original Hunter left to put a stop to me.**

"I'll bet that had to hurt, eh Sigma?" Agile said jokingly. The text blinked out, leaving the screen blank for a moment.

It was replaced a second later by a wire frame head, baldness and all of the destroyed Maverick. The room's speakers responded and amplified the artificial voice, down to an exact duplicate of the prime Maverick's original throaty warble.

**_"Yes, it did. Not nearly as much though, as having my body completely destroyed and becoming little more than a free floating program."_**

"Survive, Sigma." Agile pointed out. "You had to survive."

**_"Indeed…Almost as if it were a sort of directive as to how I should act. I could thank Vile for that final act that saved my life…were he not dead like all my other allies."_**

"You miss them, don't you?" Agile said softly. Sigma's wire frame head blinked.

**_"I am Maverick. I regret the loss of troops. I do not mourn death."_** Agile clicked his tongue.

"So just what do you live for then?" Agile asked. 

**_"Zero and X."_**

"Huh?"

**_"X, I will destroy…I will kill him for all the torment he has caused me."_**

"And Zero?"

**_"Him…Him I have something else in mind for."_** Sigma blinked out.

Agile swiveled about in his chair and approached the automatic door, ready to leave the darkness and get back to work.

"Just what exactly? Turn him Maverick? We have that plan going already."

He left. But the viewscreen flickered back on, Sigma's green lettering sliding across for a brief moment before vanishing back into the darkness.

**You don't know how truly Maverick Zero is…But I do. **

And I will live to bring him to that realization…even if I am killed time and time again.

"Well, let's see here…" X said nonchalantly as he re-coalesced back into a sentient being from his warped state and got his bearings. 

"The Energen Crystal mining facility on Cornus Island is the gem of its financial existence." He scoffed. Yes, the GDC did include that pun in its information packets. "It produces well over five tons of high quality Energen crystals every year, which are used in projects as wide ranging as the newly developed Energen Crystal batteries to focusing gems for medical lasers, to the high speed computers of the day."

_Too bad they forgot to mention those same Energen Crystals are used to help build military weaponry._

**Hey, their choice to advertise what exactly they do. It's called marketing X, and it's been this crooked ever since the Chia Pet.**

_Simply wonderful. Well, you seeing how lame the security is around here?_

**_Loud and clear. What are those, Batton Bones? Aah, screw the series number. Lazy ass planning on the part of the Maverick in charge. There should be more here for you to go up against, but there ain't!_**

_Which means that I should keep my eyes peeled for suspicious stuff._

X raised his Buster and fired off a salvo of small shots, blowing away the tiny pack of robotic bat drones that were fluttering his way.

_Still on the uptick, this place is well lighted._

X ran on, noticing that the walkway had a sudden dropoff nearby. And apparently, it was more than a waste shaft.

Dropping down, he saw a newer class Kangaroo Mech with hovering thrusters sitting idly in front of a very large pit. The bottom meant certain death, X realized. But at the other side was a prize just too tempting…

_Treasure hunting has to be my favorite part of these missions. Heart Tanks in particular._

**_Yep. Usually because you don't have to destroy anything even remotely sentient._**

_It's a long jump…'Mech won't be able to make it all the way._

**You've got your own thrusters, X. And if that's not enough, just use the Strike Chain like Wire Sponge did. To grab onto walls and drag himself in.**

Now that's good advice.

**That's the only kind I give.**

In that case, sit back. I'm taking us for a ride.

The Mech was soon soaring across the wide chasm, its thrusters screaming and straining as inch by painstaking dash jumped inch, the metallic monstrosity cleared the abyss towards the opposite end of the field. Finally, its engines began to whine and overheat, screaming at X for a shutdown.

_We'll give it one more second, then we're jumping out._

**I'm with ya all the way, Hell be damned and come what may!!**

HERE GOES!!!

X leapt forth from the cockpit, straining his dash thrusters as far as they could go and finally slamming abruptly onto the craggy surface just by the ledge's edge. His gauntlet claws sprouted out, digging into the rocky surface and giving him enough footing to clamber his way up to safety. In awe of his accomplishment, X turned about and watched the Kangroo Mech plummet to the very bottom of the chasm, impacting upon the deadly shards of Energen Crystals that had not been used.

X whistled.

_This must be their garbage pile. Falling down there would not have been good._

**Especially since after the first five feet of that surface you jumped from, the abyss's sides are as smooth as glass and offer no possible way to wall jump.**

WHAT?!

**I tell the truth. Had you not pulled that off, you would have fallen to your death. But seeing as you AIN'T dead, don't worry about it. And you didn't even have to use the Strike Chain to get to safety. Teerific job, treasure Hunter X!**

Oh, stop buttering me up. X replied back with a note of good humor in his voice.

Calmly placing the Heart Tank beside his others, X felt the familiar tingle and sudden boost in power as his health systems brought themselves up to a new level.

Clenching his fist, he looked up above. He had to smile.

"Leave it to the Maverick to provide a way back across." 

**_Well, he's generous at least. Hoverplatforms are indeed a necessity in this environment, I'd think._**

_Still, not exactly helpful for him in this case._

**Yeah. Leave it to my good friend X to spoil the entire barrel of apples for the Macintosh bunch!!**

X let the voice chuckle for a moment as the hoverplatform took him safely across the chasm.

_I just have one question…_

**Go for it.**

Who are you?

**For now, a friend.** It said drily. **_But I will tell you soon enough. When the time's right…and when you don't need me here._**

"I'll be waiting for that day." X said softly, as the final distance closed itself. Hopping down, he made his way back up to the main passageway.

There was still Hunting to be done.

"Well, well. The almighty Mega Man X has arrived." Crystal Snail muttered, plodding over to the monitor and activating the comm function of his temporary base's computer. The insignia of Cornus Island flashed on screen for a brief moment, then flickered out and was replaced by the powerful Maverick Symbol.

It had remained unchanged since Sigma had designed it during the First Uprising. It had the Sigma symbol, a mathematical function long before the title had ever been given to the founder of the Maverick Rebellion. However, the ancient Greek letter had been altered, given coloration and extended outwards so that the symbol meshed with the pseudo-appearance of a wolf. Tribute to his dog, Velguarder no doubt. 

Even though both Sigma and his prized pet, and everyone else aside from Serges, Agile and Violen had been destroyed, the Maverick insignia lived on, standing proudly as a symbol of whatever men made of it. Mavericks felt proud of it. Hunters hated it. Humans feared it. Where the symbol went, so did chaos. 

"And chaos, my dear Mega Man X, is exactly what you will be facing, should you be stupid enough to challenge me." Crystal Snail said nonchalantly.

The Maverick insignia blinked out, clear evidence that the scrambled frequency had been set up.

The familiar face of a fellow Maverick General, Magna Centipede flashed on screen, grimly staring back at the snail. 

The blue-metal reploid felt a familiar pang of anger and betrayal run through him. The Maverick Generals, under the X-Hunter's leadership, had been a little…rough, to say the least when it first started out. Serge's quote still stung the most.

_"Let me get this straight. For whatever comes next, you've decided that of all the creatures in the animal kingdom that humanity's been stupid enough to give reploid form to, you chose…A MOTH, A CENTIPEDE, A WARPED ASS CUCUMBER, AND A FRIGGIN' SNAIL?!!"_

None of the Mavericks who suffered from that outburst had forgotten the disappointment in Serges' tone. It pushed them onwards, made them angry, increased their strength and gave their abilities new levels.

But it still hurt like Hell.

"Magnus." 

"Crys." 

"X is here." The snail-like reploid said calmly. Magna Centipede blinked his optics.

"Think you're going to die, eh?"

"No, I don't. Up until this point, X has faced opponents whose strategies have been pretty straight forward versions of shooting or charging. He's never run into a guy who could mess with his perception."

"You know, technically, that isn't messing with his perception. That temporal field you create serves only to increase your own speed, so everything else seems to slow down, but in fact, it's you who alters phases." Magna chuckled a bit. "Sorry, I still can't get over how when everyone expects a snail to be slow, it is in fact the snail that can become the fastest."

Crystal Snail harrumphed.

"Yeah, not my fault I was…" He blinked. "What was I before I was a Maverick?"

"You were a worker at a very high tech research laboratory, assigned to a team running temporal experiments."

"Oh, right right…" Crystal Snail muttered. He shook his head and looked back in the viewscreen. "Magnus, how come it is you can remember that, but I can't?" The four armed Maverick raised a pair of right arms to rub at his chin for a moment.

"I suppose it's because I'm not nearly as Maverick as you are." Crystal Snail blinked. Magnus harrumphed.

"Yeah, you're having a hard time processing that even, huh? Just remember this. In order for my infiltration of the Central Computer base here to work, we had to lessen the more destructive natural impulses in me that are a basic part of being Maverick. The unforseen side effect is that despite my still adherent loyalty to the cause, more of my original mindset remains intact. So does my memories and focus, something that most Mavericks seem to lack."

"I'll take your word for it." Crystal muttered, his antennae drooping. "Is that the price we pay for being Maverick? Losing our minds?"

"It's for a just cause, Crys." Magnus said firmly. "If you ever start to doubt yourself, just remember that." He coughed. "Anyhow, when's that next shipment of Energen rolling in for transit to Ice Fortress?"

"The last load left two minutes ago. It's substantial enough…a truckload's worth. And I'm warning you, it may be the last one for a while."

"Think X will be able to stop your operation?" Crystal Snail shrugged.

"I'm not giving up hope yet. As a matter of fact, I'm confident I will win in a match. The trick will be cleaning up the damage he causes." Magnus smiled a bit.

"Positive thinking, yes. And Crys?"

"Yeah, Magnus?"

"There's no need to feel ashamed about what Serges said three months ago. The times have changed…and no matter what he thinks, I'M proud of you." Crystal Snail stood at rigid attention and saluted his comrade.

"I will not fail." He said stoically. Magnus waved.

"Just live." The connection blinked out.

Crystal turned and accessed the cameras lining the interior passageways of the Energen mine. Soon enough, he found X, leaping free from a wide pit. 

There was a slight change in how X looked, however. Frowning, Crystal shook his head.

"Pity. The fool has a helmet to complete his collection now."

_Well, that finishes my Second Set. How does the entire ensemble look?_

**You look like a warrior who long since gave up on being a holy Paladin and dropped back to resorting on sheer power. Personally, I like the new look.**

Is that what the set I got during the First Uprising is? The Paladin set?

**It's as good a name as any.**

So what shall we call this one?

**Retribution.**

X air-dashed across the massive crystal waste pit and clung to the other side, unleashing a charged up Spin Wheel that blew razor sharp needles in every direction. The squabble of Batton Bones charging down en masse were quickly sliced to ribbons by the attack, and X continued his climb.

_On the flipside of things, I had no idea that a charged up Silk Shot could draw in power capsules._

**Too bad it doesn't work on Sub-Tanks, eh X?**

_I manage. _

All in all, the Energen Crystal mine hadn't been too difficult. Aside from the guardian robot, nothing more than a controller pod safely protected by a huge Energen shard surrounding it, which had controlled a pair of plasma gun hoverturrets, and the usual mess of Energen blocks sliding every which way along the slippery slopes in vain attempts to crush him…

Well, X had seen worse. This was far from Sigma's Flying Fortress, and he hadn't had the Air-Dash then.

The rest of the distance to the lair of the Maverick closed shortly, and aside from another gauntlet of Batton Bones, and one VERY well placed Energen block setup, X found little difficulty. Then again, this wasn't a Military base, so he felt no surge in his ego.

And finally, he came knocking at the door. First one rotating lock, and then the next.

The room beyond was simple in appearance. Large, square, climbable walls and a flat ceiling. In other words, a room made for, or altered for fighting.

The computer monitor and its controls on the other side of the room went dark, then exploded into shards a moment later. Covering his face from the debris, X grunted in surprise. 

A rotating orange colored shell slowly dropped from above, finally catching X's eye. Testing his luck, he threw a Level 3 Buster charge at it. 

No effect whatsoever…it had been tempered to reflect plasma, X noted.

**_This is going to be a fun one. What's your status?_**

Full health and two fully loaded Sub-Tanks.

**Good, you're going to need them…**

Finally, the shell came down to the ground, and its inhabitant popped out from the protective barrier. 

It was a Maverick with gloved human-type hands, dash thrusters in its boots, blue in color, with a pair of antennae and large, bug like optics that no doubt gave it an incredible sight advantage.

In every sense of the word, a snail.

"So what do they call you then?" X asked dourly. The Maverick's antennae twitched in response to his question.

"I'm known as Crystal Snail." X blinked a few times, then made it a point to stare about the room and then turn back to the Maverick with a disapproving gaze.

"A little unoriginal considering the circumstances, don't you think?" Crystal shrugged.

"A name is just that…a friggin' name. All that matters is what one's capable of in the long run. The name comes in after that."

"So tell me," X queried firmly. "Just how many tons of raw Energen did you manage to process for the Mavericks?" Crystal Snail pointed to the charred mess of the monitor and its controls in the corner that had self-destructed.

"Everything you would have liked to know was on that." The Maverick winked at X. "Sorry, but I don't believe in letting my mortal enemies snag critical information that's privy to the Rebellion." X folded his arms, slowly charging the Buster circuits in his arm with power.

"Well, that's awfully un-neighborly of you now, isn't it?" Crystal snorted with distaste.

"Hey, I don't wanna hear no lousy two cent jokes about Mister McFeely and the little Red Trolley, especially from you. You came here to stop the Maverick operations, correct?"

"Yup."

"And seeing as you've decimated the entire supply of Batton Bones at my disposal, AND used your Kangaroo 'Mech to swipe my Heart Tank, AND completely destroyed my beautiful Magna Quartz guardian..."

"Oh, is that what it's called?" X muttered, stopping the ignoble Maverick's tirade halfway. "I just thought it was an enemy."

"Yeah, yeah." Crystal muttered. "You see an enemy, you shoot. FINE. Listen up, X. You've done as much as you can. But it ends here."

"Oh, you're going to stop me?" The Hunter joked, a small smile curling about his face. "That's just hilarious." 

Crystal Snail clasped his hands together and bowed to his opponent.

"Well, let's just see. I'm itching for a chance to see how I match up with 'The Greatest Hunter.'"

"And I'm wanting to see if plasma does more damage than salt on a slowpoke snail." X retorted.

**_Hey, good comeback!!_**

It's quiet time…I need to focus. 

"Well, here goes then." Crystal said finally, rubbing his antennae together. 

X finally uncrossed his arms, morphing both into their Buster modifications.

And the fight began with two very loud bangs.

Crystal Snail was far from an immobile type, more fluid in his motions than the animalian brethren his form came from. X looked on in awe as he jumped an impossibly high distance, almost slamming headfirst into the ceiling before he began to arc back down. Both shot flew on harmlessly underneath him, slamming out into the opposing wall of Energen crystal and dissipating into nothingness. The crystals however, seemed to suffer from an adverse effect of the shot…X's new helmet diagnostic equipment indicated in the timespan of an eyeblink that the crystalline section of the wall he'd hit was storing up power.

But he didn't have time to contemplate that, as Crystal Snail came dropping down and landing solidly where X had stood. The new Blue Bomber's dash thrusters shut themselves off as he skidded to a halt fifteen feet distant from his foe.

Turning about, the Maverick allowed himself a small smile.

"I'm not nearly as slow as you make me out to be." X unleashed a third Buster charge, Level 3 intensity that he'd been holding since he unleashed his first two shots. Crystal Snail deftly tucked underneath the protective barrier of his shell and waited as the blast ricocheted off harmlessly towards another corner of the room. Once more, the crystalline walls absorbed the plasma and began to glow with the stored luminescent charge. X shook his head, not knowing exactly how this could help him, but also acknowledging that Crystal Snail was unlike any other Maverick he'd gone up against yet in this Uprising. In the First Uprising, it had been Armored Armadillo who had reflected shot after plasma shot. And there was usually a trick to getting rid of a Maverick's protective shell…like shocking it or frying its circuitry.

"I'd sure like to know where you Mavericks get all this plasma deflective armor." X growled. Crystal jerked his thumb Westward.

"They're having a bargain sale down at Crazy Hino's in New Tokyo." The Maverick shrugged. "But I digress…Playtime's over, X." X waited not knowing what was coming his way.

The Maverick took another firm leap upwards in an attempt to crush X. The Hunter dashed out of the way and turned, keeping another Buster charge active.

But Crystal Snail's next tactic was one that the Hunter wasn't familiar with. He dropped back down, turned about…and after wiggling his antennae, SPAT something at X.

Disgusted and surprised, X lifted his Buster skyward and tried to backpedal away from the…well, WHATEVER it was. It sort of looked like a glob of snot.

But reploids didn't have snot.

And it struck…

Only a mere second later, that tiny glob of clear liquid had expanded in every direction, covering his entire body, save for a part of his arm and all of his Buster, which extended out from the mess uselessly. And then X felt an incredible pain run through his body…

The substance hardened…X was trapped in a mess of artificial crystal.

Crystal Snail shook his head and yawned, approaching X.

"That's why you didn't stand a chance, bubsy. I'm called Crystal Snail for a reason, THAT'S the reason. That mess I threw at you was a fast acting combination of quick drying synth-crystal and fluid operating nanobots that expand the stuff outward and produce more of it." Crystal tapped on the section of the crystal that had frozen X's surprised scream forever in its transparent depths. He grinned devilishly.

"Well, another statue for my collection then." He shrugged and turned about, walking towards the charred remains of his monitor.

He didn't notice that while the stunned poise and expression of X remained the same, frozen in that damnable crystalline cage, his armor nonetheless shifted colors until he was a mix of white and green.

He did however, hear the whine of X's Buster as it unleashed something…

Swiveling about in surprise, Crystal Snail looked on as a sharp edges buzzsaw, similar to the ones Wheel Gator had often used, formed out of the mere air by X's Buster port and dropped, spinning madly and grinding away at the crystal cage.

"NO!!" The Maverick screamed, dashing towards X as fast as he could. To no avail…

The Spin Wheel sliced cleanly through the outer perimeter of X's prison. It took little more than a mere burst of dash thrusters from within to snap X free from his trap and slam the Maverick with the sliced half of his own weapon. 

Crystal grunted as the wall of glassine crystal slammed him backwards…He screamed a moment later when the Spin Wheel came tearing by and took off one of his arms, dropping it limply to the ground and opening up a gaping wound from which his purple blood began to spill. His body's natural restorative functions sealed off the wound immediately, but the damage was done.

Crystal clambered back up to his feet, breathing heavily as he stared bloody murder at X. The Hunter, who was also gasping for air, stared right back at him.

The two foes knew it then. All premise of courtesy and fair play had been thrown out the window. 

"Fight me." Crystal said hollowly.

"Until you're dead." X replied with a deadpan tone.

X didn't know what possessed him to give up on charging his Buster and simply drop into blitzkrieg mode. But something snapped inside of him, and as the Maverick began to spin about the room, homing in on the ever limber and fast dashing X in every direction, the Hunter fired a flurry of plasma bullets that all deflected harmlessly away from their intended target and struck at the walls and the ceiling with ease.

Their very battleground began to shimmer, and the dimly lit interior lit up far beyond daylight. A battle of glimmering crystal, the lightshow that X's charged plasma produced put even the craziest disco balls to shame.

But the Maverick still had one more trick up his sleeve, one he hadn't used yet…

X waited below, finally holding in a Buster charge as the Maverick bounced about. He knew that Crystal Snail had always dropped from his protective rotation in midair since the last time they'd exchanged words. He was counting on it now.

The Maverick did indeed stop spinning about and emerge from his shell…

But unlike the last few times, he wiggled his antennae, a flurry of electrical sparks dancing between them. And then everything about the Maverick, his form, the air and his shell, seemed to take on a new hue…distorted and quivering slightly from the norm.

But X found it was the Maverick's SPEED that the new power had increased. In awe and in pain, X found himself being slammed about the room like a pathetic rag doll under the Maverick's power.

"Isn't possible…"

**__**

This is a trick I haven't seen before either…

"FOOL!!" Crystal Snail hissed, finally dropping out of his pseudo-existence and turning back to normal under X's pained optics. The Hunter drained a Sub-Tank and waited as the Maverick continued his tirade. "The Crystal Snail is no easy target!!"

"And you're always bouncing around, damnit." X spat back wearily. Crystal grinned, a devilish smile that made X grow even weaker.

_This is not a good fight…_

**Because you're losing?**

BECAUSE I MIGHT DIE, YOU BASTARD!!

**Look, I died. I'm still here. It's not as bad as it see…**

SHUT THE HELL UP AND LET ME FIGHT!!!

"GO TO HELL!!" X screamed, firing off another flurry of plasma shots. Crystal Snail calmly ducked into his shell and let it bounce off. He pulled himself free and stared at X in disgust.

"You're weak." 

But the shots sailed on…

They struck a section of the ceiling just above Crystal Snail that had already been hit several times. The Energen absorbed the plasma's charge…And then began to destabilize.

Unable to keep the dangerous power locked in any longer, it exploded, unleashing the fury of al the stored plasma outwards…or downwards, in this case.

Crystal Snail became engulfed in the downblasting maelstrom of plasma energy, screaming in pain as the force knocked him to his feet. But the shot dissipated, and he climbed back up to his feet. He looked at X incredulously, who in turn looked to the charred remains of the section of ceiling that had exploded.

Then the Hunter turned and stared around at the rest of the room, each crystal glowing with equal intensity.

"A room full of high explosives…" X mused in awe. He looked at Crystal Snail, newfound confidence restored in his firm gaze.

The Maverick hissed in rage, then screamed.

"YOU WON'T KILL ME, X!!" He ducked into his shell, once more spinning off into the air. X's eyes narrowed, and he clenched his fist up.

"Just watch me."

**_Ooh, I like the sound of that…_**

You'll like this better: G-Crush.

**HOT DAMN!!! WHIPPEEEEE!!!!**

And sure enough, the Maverick known as Crystal Snail halted his rolling about in the air and emerged, his antennae beginning to wiggle.

X took his chance. Curling his body inward, he activated the crucial pathway and accessed his most dangerous melee weapon ever.

A bright locus of energy surrounded his body for a moment, before he flung his limbs out and hurled plasma death in every direction.

The blast carried on with tremendous power, striking first at Crystal Snail and stopping his time shifting…

And then, by the cold calculations X had made, it hit all the crystals remaining that composed the ceiling and walls.

The retribution was quick and fierce…and unstoppable.

While X remained protected, unscathed because of the energy locus about him…

The entire room became a gigantic plasma explosion.

In effect, X was baking the Maverick alive, turning his own environment against him.

A few seconds later, the deafening roars ceased and the final vestiges of the horrendous storm vanished.

X landed lightly on his feet, then stared about the room.

It had grown quiet and dark again, every Energen Crystal destroyed by the power X had forced them to store and return.

And Crystal Snail lay motionless on the ground, defeated and dead, except for the shallow breathing his battered body tried to accomplish. His shell, or what was left of it, lay cracked and destroyed five feet away from its owner. 

**_God, I love that attack…and look! I guess that shell of his couldn't deflect that one, huh?_**

Suppose not. 

**Feel guilty?**

It was him or me. Survival doesn't bring guilt when innocents don't suffer.

X approached Crystal Snail, then stared down at him. 

The Maverick looked back up, his optics glassy from the pain.

"It looks like you won…" Crystal wheezed. X nodded.

"You fought well…you just didn't expect that strategy." Crystal's face contorted into what was either a chagrined grimace of pain or an attempt at a smile.

"No…And you live on. I've failed…"

"Every other before you has as well."

"Then I will die." Crystal Snail exhaled breathlessly. His eyes rolled up into his head…

The shallow breathing ceased.

X bit his tongue for a moment, then reached down and touched the Maverick's cheek, letting his Weapons Copy absorb that damnable crystal goo gun Snail had used on him.

It appeared in his weapons menu under the heading 'Crystal Hunter.'

**_That's funny…_**

What is?

**Crystal Hunter…Crystal Hunter in a House of Glass.**

_So tell me…am I ready to know who you are now?_

**No…but I'm proud of you. You've grown so much, X.**

_I had to._

**Come on. You need some sleep after this…**

No, I'm going to take this somewhere else first.

**Huh?**

The Junkyard. I think that Morph Moth might have left a little present on top of the first building I went into. Hell, he could fly up there, and I can't air-dash.

**So?**

With this Crystal Hunter, I can freeze up the Disk Boy guarding the building and use him as a stepping stone.

**X, I'll never stop being surprised by you.** The voice chuckled.

"It isn't over yet." X said quietly. He calmly activated his warp generator and left for the familiar ground of the MHHQ.

Back on Ice Fortress, the computer monitor blinked back to life in the control center, and Sigma's wire frame head appeared.

"No, X, it isn't." He said darkly.

"It most certainly isn't."


	13. Mutiny on the H.M.S. Maverick

**__**

MEGA MAN X: ISLAND OF AWAKENING

By Erico

CHAPTER ELEVEN: MUTINY ON THE H.M.S. MAVERICK

"Well, that's probably the most unorthodox way I've ever heard of a Hunter taking down a Maverick…" Cain mused, rubbing at his chin while his legs were propped up on his desk. X leaned up against a wall in the MHHQ's command office and lifted his shoulders in a small shrug.

"Whatever it takes. That guy was tough, Cain. TOUGH. He made Armored Armadillo look like a chump even." 

"True, true…" Cain mused, looking down at the cleaned and hollowed out shell of the aforementioned Maverick. It now served as little more than a fishbowl for his office. The last goldfish who'd lived in it, Sigma II, had died. The replacement goldfish had also been called Sigma II, and Cain showed no signs of altering the name.

"But remember, X, Armored Armadillo's setup didn't have potentially explosive Energen Crystals in the walls and ceiling that you could exploit for victory either." The Hunter's leader tapped on his armrest. "Still…This proves one thing."

"What?"

"You truly have become a Hunter." Cain said sadly. X shook his head.

"No need for moping, Cain. I'm the only one left, you said it yourself on June 20th."

"I guess." The archaeologist sighed. "Still, I wish that you could have lived your life another way."

"Pish tosh." X muttered. "What happens happens, and we can't change the past."

"True." Cain replied. He turned the datapadd on his desk about and nudged it towards X. "I've got the details on your next mission."

"How many more do I have to pull here??" X groaned. Cain lifted up two fingers.

**_Nuts, is that it?_**

I don't like doing this stuff, remember? Two's just fine.

**Suit yourself, party pooper. **

"The next one is Cornus's Deep Sea Base, on the Southeast side of the island. They use it primarily for geological research, but the GDC tells me it also has a backup command center, if the main Computer Complex in the center of the island ever suffered from problems."

"I get it." X said calmly. He looked at the datapadd. "First, I make sure that the secondary command center at the Deep Sea Base will never be operational for the Mavericks."

"Yeah, and we have some data on the Maverick there for once." Cain said. X looked up in surprise. Cain motioned to the datapadd. "Flip to the next page." X pushed the button, then stared at a freeze frame image of what seemed to be a crablike Maverick.

"That's a Cancer-class reploid…" Cain winced. "Sorry, I just can't help but be hurt by the connotations of that name."

"Me too." X said sadly, remembering his yellow colored friend, the first reploid ever made. 

"Anyhow, in the short run, that's a reploid built to resemble a crab. Like his animalian brethren, he doesn't have squat in the way of walking abilities."

"What's the upside?"

"His breed of reploids were designed in April of 2118, and they discontinued them in June. The upside X, is that these things were built for deep underwater exploration. Their armor's capable of withstanding the crushing depths in the Marianas, and could probably go deeper. With all that defensive capability, they were considered to be a risk."

"So they stopped building them."

"Only 73 ever got off the line. This guy has his own record…He was a part of the Tokyo Harbor patrol when the First Uprising started." Cain harrumphed. "I guess he went with Launch Octopus…because he went missing. Only now, he's come back."

"Terrific." X muttered. "Which means I'm going up against a Maverick who's had months to train, on top of his defensive capabilities, and the fact it occurs underwater."

"And this time, we really have no choice BUT you." Cain said anxiously. "Your armor has enough extra protection that you can withstand the pressure to the Deep Sea Base."

"Why can't I just warp in?"

"No good." Cain said drily. "They have an EM shield up to prevent direct warp-ins. You have to infiltrate the base the long way…and doing that means going deep. Deeper than you did in Tokyo Harbor."

"Oh, great." X muttered. "Anything else I should be aware of?"

"The seafloor at Cornus is highly unstable…Your route will give you about a 100 foot clearance for your depth safety limits. Should you plunge down one of the abyssal drops riddled about the base…" Cain's voice trailed off.

"I get the idea." X muttered. "My air-dash should still work underwater, though. I'll be cool."

"I hope so, X." Cain replied. X gave him a brief nod and a quick smile, then warped out in his usual jumble of particles.

Cain put his chin on his hands.

"There are times I wonder if I'm to blame for all of this."

"X will probably be heading your way next." Agile said calmly over the intercom. The Maverick General staring back at him on the viewscreen blinked his large optics slowly before rubbing the side of his round body and head with a stubby arm.

"If he's a fool, he will."

"He's coming, and he's no fool." Agile growled. "Don't underestimate X. When he gets going, and I mean really going with a full head of steam and an angry mind, he flies."

"I know his record." Bubble Crab replied. "But he isn't unbeatable. No one's just given him a dangerous enough gauntlet that wears him down enough before a fight." He pointed at the screen. "That's the trick, comrade. You've put your best hopes in taking out X during a fully heated battle. Well, guess what. It doesn't work like that with him. He's running with two fully loaded Sub-Tanks, six Heart Tanks borrowed from our now dead associates, and a spiffy new set of armor that comes from God knows where. I've seen the uploaded data on what that suit's capable of."

"Yeah, it is dangerous." 

"Not really…not for me." Bubble Crab said stoically. "I've got the highest level of defense of any of the Maverick generals. The armor I wear can withstand crushing pressures three miles plus deep. Aside from X's major plasma explosion trick, which from what I've seen, he can only use once before a recharge, his basic functions are just too pitiful to stand up to me."

"So you stand a chance?"

"He doesn't." Bubble Crab replied firmly. "I'll let you go. I have to prepare my gauntle…" Bubble Crab paused and lifted his arm. A tiny monitor on it was blinking. He turned back up and stared grimly at Agile. "I'm going to have to let you go now. The pest's arrived earlier than expected." The monitor display clicked off, and Agile was left alone in the dark. 

The Maverick leader folded his arms and rolled his eyes.

"Well? Where's the criticism, Sigma?" 

In response to Agile's query, the screen flickered to life, but the wire frame head did not appear. Only the green lines of text did.

**What can I criticize? Bubble Crab is confident in his abilities, and they are impressive. **

"Oh sure. Now you turn nice on me." Agile grumbled.

**His attitude is one that all of you Mavericks need to adopt. **

"Just because I'm Maverick doesn't mean that I put blind faith in everything." Agile replied tersely. "X almost killed me once. He's killed off every General he's run across. He killed you."

**So? Death isn't absolute, Agile. Look at me. I came back from the grave.**

"That doesn't help me any." Agile snapped. "Even while I struggle to finish this damn Maverick Stronghold codenamed Ice Fortress, the raging new Blue Bomber rampages onward, burning his way through every obstacle with as much ferocity as the plasma his X-Buster spews!! The rebellion is FAILING, Sigma. IT'S FAILING, AND THERE'S NOTHING I CAN DO TO STOP IT!!!"

The Maverick Agile stared at the screen with his burning red eyes, expecting some sort of angry retort from the somehow alive Sigma. But for several seconds, nothing came. And finally, it did.

**You fall far short of my expectations, Agile. When I left you, Violen and Serges in charge of that small expedition to leave my stronghold in the event of the worst possible scenario, you had no signs of weakness.**

"I was stupid then. Stupid, naïve, cocky." Agile said in a subdued tone.

**You had spirit then. X has deprived you of it.**

"And what would you do in my shoes?" Agile asked sadly. "We've lost Zero back to the Hunters. Six of our generals are dead. Cornus Island, the place where our rebellion should have, by all rights taken off into a new and glorious stretch of yellow brick road is being taken back from us, piece by agonizing piece. WHAT WOULD YOU DO, SIGMA??"

**For one…conquer.**

"Give me a break." Agile scoffed. "How?"

**For one, the Hunters may think they have Zero back. In that, they are wrong.**

"And two?" Agile asked in a wizened tone.

**Two…I'm going to restore the Agile I once knew.**

Agile blinked, then stared at the screen with a look of confusion. 

**My powers on you have seemed to grow weak these last months…**

"What power??" Agile asked warily.

The screen went dark. 

Then came the sound of a powerful whine, the unmistakable imprint of a high frequency data transfer.

And Agile's screams…lasting only seconds before shutting off.

The lights came back on…Agile looked back up at the screen.

**Welcome back, Agile.**

The Maverick grinned a toothy grin at his leader…His eyes shone a darker shade of blood red.

"All will come to pass." 

And if Sigma's free-floating program could smile…

It was grinning from ear to ear.

"Well, sunset on Cornus Island." X said as he got his bearings. He stared about, looking at the rocky outcropping that served as his entry point to Bubble Crab's lair. 

**_Gotta love sunsets._**

Not if it's the last one you know you'll see.

**Aah, get real X. You'll live. I know you…you'll live.**

Thanks for the support.

X broke off chatting with the voice in his head as a sudden fluttering of metallic wings caught his auditory sensors on alert.

"Batton Bones." He watched as the chittering robotic drones crept closer and closer, exiting out of the safety of the cavelike alcove X needed to enter into. X calmly lifted his left arm up, shifted it into a Buster, and blew the robots to scrap.

_Think that set off any alarms?_

**If it did, expect more trouble.**

X sighed and walked onwards.

The rocky outcropping he had warped onto served as the entry point for his path. It would set off no alarms, but warping in closer to the base would. Therefore, the element of surprise, as necessary as it became, was utilized. X acknowledged more times than not the element vanished halfway through his missions.

Dropping down the long shaft left by the forgers of Cornus's Deep Sea Base, X was finally immersed in the salt water of the Pacific Ocean. He shuddered for a moment as the liquid covered every part of his body, then realized this was probably cleaner water than what he'd dunked himself in in Tokyo Harbor.

**Seawater detected. Self-sealing procedures initiated.**

The command flashed across the iris of X's left optic, informing him that his body was tightening the seals in his armor so that no water could get in. Sea water especially, did one Hell of a number in corroding wiring and shape memory alloy components. The feature had also come into play during the Tokyo Harbor mission of the First Uprising.

But it had never been pushed this far…

X realized with grim intensity that this mission would push his seaworthy systems to their limits. He only hoped his dash thrusters would still work, or he'd really be screwed.

He dropped onto a small ledge at the bottom of the shaft, and almost moved on.

Had his wandering eye not spotted a metallic gate ten feet below suddenly roll open.

_Something's coming._

**Then STAY PUT AND DON'T LET IT SEE YOU.**

X flattened his body against the ledge, knowing that the voice didn't need to tell him THAT twice.

And sure enough, a rather large, cumbersome…and heavily armored robot came swimming out of the alcove. X narrowed his eyes. It resembled a fish in every respect, and he'd seen them before.

_I believe those are called Fisherns. Fisherns or Sea Canthllers, I'm not quite sure…_

**_It doesn't matter much. I've seen 'em too. GDC class sentries for deep sea ops. They scan for stuff, and in the worst scenario, they have a mildly powerful laser. I'll bet anything this one's been beefed up._**

So just don't let it see me?

**_Bingo._**

X stayed put and let the drone wander on by, then relaxed and dropped down.

Sure enough, the Fishern, or whatever the Hell it was, floated on. X estimated taking down its vulnerable spots…the tail, the head, the fins…would probably bring it down. The only downside would be he'd take damage in the process, and set off every alarm on the Deep Sea Base. Not his style.

Its mouth sent out a sweeping yellow beam of light, and X identified it easily as the main scanner. But by proper use of his jumping skills, X found he could avoid being caught in its sweeping length. It also shot out depth charges occasionally, but X was still not that deep in the water, and so it presented little danger. Still, he'd have to move farther and farther awa…

Never mind, the thing had given up on firing depth charges. It floated silently at the end of the undersea corridor, seemingly stuck facing the wall. X froze, wondering if the sentry might turn back around and head his way.

But no…it was only pausing to open another metallic gateway, X saw as he leapt up higher in the water to get a better view. It silently dropped down to wherever the next fall led, and left X standing alone. As he floated back down to the chunk of seabed he'd jumped from, his eyes caught a glimmer of something high above, almost buried in the ceiling above. He grinned.

_Hey, leave it to the resident Maverick to stuff his Heart Tank someplace I can reach, but not without not excellent skills._

**Something tells me we're about to spend five minutes shooting for this item that we could spend infiltrating this base…**

It's called experience. X replied, dashing towards the wall on the other side of the newly opened drop. The voice sighed.

**_Whatever, X._**

"Hermm…" Bubble Crab mused, rubbing at what could be called his chin. "My search and destroy minion hasn't locked onto X." He narrowed his eyes. "But he's here…I know it." He turned to the rest of his monitors. "He's just not willing to show his face. Either that or he's trying to avoid my sensor grid." 

The Maverick shook his head.

"No matter. When he comes…and he will come…I shall destroy him." Still, it seemed a little odd to have this ability, this power over his domain to know just where X might be. The other Maverick generals had had this ability as well. Perhaps they were all just weaker.

Truth be told, Bubble Crab, because of his ludicrous defensive capabilities, was one of the more dangerous Maverick Generals. Then there had been Wheel Gator's grimfaced tactics of destruction, and Crystal Snail's hidden powers.

X had triumphed over all the Maverick Generals before. But Bubble Crab had learned from his predecessor's mistakes.

Crystal Snail had fallen because his lair's walls and ceilings were composed of potentially destructive Energen. All it took was X going a little blast crazy, and the overloaded Energen Crystals returned the attack in full bore, wiping out the Maverick with devastating results.

Wheel Gator…The Maverick who could face any and hold his salt. His lair, a room with a thick layer of mud in the floor, provided a cover for his stealth. But he had also failed to see the quirky way that X could fight. All it took to end Wheel Gator's life was exposing the circuitry of his tail, and then throwing the Maverick tailfirst into a high powered display screen.

Bubble Crab, the third of the strongest Maverick Generals, would not fall like his comrades before. His lair was bare, empty and devoid of any piece of landscape that could be used against him. X would have no easy victory because of his use of the terrain. It would be him, Bubble Crab, and the inner walls of the Deep Sea Base's sanctum.

He calmly walked out of his lair and punched on a wall panel he'd programmed to act as his computer interface with his patrolling robotic sentry.

Right now, it was approaching the final leg of the run to the base. Bubble Crab allowed himself a smile. 

If X was trying to avoid detection, it'd end there. It was nothing more than a series of high rise towers, all thin and unstable. If X fell down one of the abyssal drops…

Well, no matter what his flimsy armor was capable of, he'd die.

In fact, Bubble Crab mused, in all likelihood, the Hunter would run across the corpse of that fool GDC reploid who had tried to stop the Maverick's assault on late December 19th. 

His Landchaser had been destroyed in the same plume of flame that took a good portion of their groundling Maverick commanders. All the Generals had remained intact, thankfully.

But he had paid with his life. That fool…

Yes. X would more than likely run across the corpse of that GDC reploid, which had been caught in the currents and placed on one of the rock towers in the abyssal zone.

Bubble Crab wondered if that might be a spark to his insane fury he shouldn't have left there to ignite.

X had taken his sweet time moving about the underwater passages after retrieving the hidden Heart Tank. For good reason, considering he still didn't know exactly where that blasted sentry robot was.

As he went deeper, it got darker. Thankfully, X found that by storing a charge in his Buster and leaking small amounts out, he made a sort of sparkler that illuminated the immediate area. If he wanted to see farther, he increased the output for a bright flash of light. And that worked quite well, aside from the Jelly Seekers he attracted. But those were particularly easy foes to defeat, if you kept them a fair distance from you so their paralyzing field didn't snag you. A few shots, and the possibly dangerous Jelly Seekers became little more than robotic scrap in the underwater caverns.

**_Something tells me that they weren't expecting an assault to come along this route._**

No, that sentry of theirs would indicate otherwise.

**Oh, right. And we just let it walk off.**

AHEM. Sometimes the safest route is stealth, all right?

**Bull. Just fire off a maelstrom of plasma and go home happy.**

Jesus, you're stubbornly violent. You almost sound like…

X froze. 

**_Like who?? _**The voice replied humorously. X rolled his tongue about the inside of his mouth. No way…

There could be no way…

_Forget it._ X finally grumbled, plodding along. _Besides, I've got bigger things to worry about. We're fast exiting the cavern zone of this stage. Think I'll give this area a scan before I go on._

**Oh, your new helmet gadget, huh?**

X didn't bother to reply, turning the power to his sensors to full and letting the crosshair that appeared on his vision walk about the room.

Something up above suddenly caused it to go haywire.

_What the…?!_

**_Looks like it found something. _**The voice said humorously. 

X shut the scanner off before it drove him nuts. _No kidding. I guess we're coming back later, huh?_

**Why not shoot for it now?**

Hello?! You may be combat minded, but examine the circumstances! That's too high for me to jump, and I couldn't climb the cavern wall high enough to kick my way to a handhold. I'm going to have to pick up a thruster pack or something and come back for it later.

**Interesting.**

What is?

**Through all of this, X, I've helped you to become more in tune with your fighting capabilities.**

Yeah, so?

**In turn, you've helped to look at situations a little more logically. Hell, I would have never thought of throwing Wheel Gator into the viewscreen, or causing Crystal Snail's room to go nuclear.**

So we both benefit?

**We both benefit.**

X shrugged and walked on towards the abyssal region, the most dangerous section of this mission. His Buster's illumination increased as it was needed, for the depths seemed to suck in the light like a black hole. Occasionally, he blew away a Jelly Seeker that strayed too close, but for the most part X's main focus was on keeping himself as high up as he could in this mess of abyssal drops. Even as he walked along, he was cursing at his body for flashing countless warning messages about the external pressure onto his optics, which if not for his grim concentration, might just have sent him plummeting to his untimely end as easily as the Jelly Seekers.

He hopped along as best he could, expanding his visual range when he was edgy about his next jump.

But along the way, he paused on one rock pillar, staring in confusion at the next. 

Something was already there. Something far out of the ordinary.

_I don't like the looks of that._

**So scan it.** X took the voice's advice, letting his helmet's scanning systems shoot on ahead.

It identified two things;

One, it was a reploid. 

Two…it was dead.

_Oh my God…_

X leapt as quickly as he could onto the next pillar, his left arm's Buster lit up a bit brighter. He turned the body over.

Even with all the destruction X had seen and caused in his life, this…His face blanched.

The reploid's back, which X had noticed first, was completely shredded. His armor had easily given way as it was torn apart by some sort of explosion.

One of his arms had a hole that ran straight through it…a shot that could have been far worse. Perhaps most grisly of all was that he only had one leg.

The reploid looked like he had been through a grinder. But his face, even though it was crushed inwards like the rest of him by the intense ocean pressures…

Had a mask of placid contentment.

_This just doesn't make sense…why is he smiling?!_

**I'll tell you this much, X. That's no Maverick.** Sure enough, as X examined the corpse closer, he noticed the GDC service insignia lapel attached to the reploid's left shoulder. But GDC lapels also came with rank designations and their area of service. This one looked particularly new…couldn't have been more than three weeks old, even with the sea exposure.

X looked closer, squinting and turning his Buster's luminescent output up a tad.

A moment later, he lowered the lighting, bowing his head in stunned silence.

**_So…this is the Dino Tank reploid Damien._**

Yes…

**The one that put his life on the line to get the message out that Cornus was in it deep.**

Yes.

**And more than likely, he washed up here after he was shot up.**

Yes.

**Damnit, X! Can't you say anything but YES?!**

What would you have me say? X shot back angrily. _He's DEAD. I know that. There's nothing I could have done to prevent it. The only thing I can do for him is continue on and avenge his demise. The only thing._

X stood up straight and saluted the corpse of the proud reploid Damien.

_Farewell, Damien…You will not be forgotten._

X gently nudged Damien's body over the side of the rock tower, then watched it plummet towards the depths below, growing dimmer and dimmer and smaller as it dropped from his Buster's lighting like a stone.

If X hadn't been underwater, there would have been a tear in his eye.

He turned back about and jumped on, finally reaching a very large abyss with rocket propelled platforms. With adept skill, he jumped from one to the next until he reached the other side. 

Turning his Buster's power output up another few notches, X saw he had finally reached the Deep Sea Base.

The heavily armed and armored robotic sentry lay in a dock above. An airlock was only eight feet above where he clung haphazardly to the craggy rock the base was built in. 

X's eyes burned angrily.

_So, you're angry?_

**YES.**

Because Damien's dead.

**YES.**

And did you notice you're speaking exactly like me now?

**Shut up.**

Don't worry. X reassured the voice, determination seeping into his thoughts. He slipped through the airlock, waiting until the water had drained and his warning messages about the external pressure had ceased repeating themselves.

Dripping water from his shoulders, X walked on with his Buster going up to a higher charge level. With the facility's lights, it was once more time to destroy.

_Damien won't be forgotten._

Now I fight for him as well.

There were only minimal defenses inside the Deep Sea Base. Which would stand to reason from a normal perspective, seeing as it had an anti-transport EM shield up, and was located so deep that a normal assault wouldn't work.

Of course, X was far from a normal assault, and he didn't rely on the normal perspective. By luck, or by skill, he had weaved about the dangerous traps left along his route, completely evaded Bubble Crab's sentry robot.

And now, here he was, climbing up the sides of the vertical service shaft leading to Bubble Crab's lair. Whether or not the Maverick was expecting him was of little consequence. 

And so he blasted his way through the trident headed sentries attached to the walls and promptly slipped through the rotating gateway he found by emerging into a corridor shaft.

On the other side was a well lit room, rectangular in design. X recognized it instantly.

_This is where battles are fought._

"So you come to my house at long last." X lifted his head up and watched with limited concern as the Maverick dropped down.

Head to toe, he looked exactly like the report had described him.

"Bubble Crab, huh?" X growled. "It's a shame you went Maverick in Tokyo Harbor. You could have fought against them with that power."

The portly figure sidewaddled his way from where he'd fallen, keeping his arms at his sides.

"Oh, and using it to help free the reploid race from bondage is…"

"Shut up."

"NO, YOU SHUT UP." Bubble Crab flared angrily. He waved an arm at X. "Look at yourself. You lived a sheltered life with that damned Doctor Cain, X. All you ever had to worry about was finding something to do after lunch. You never had to put up with the abuse and mistrust that humans have for our kind, you never had to fear for your life because some bigotted fatass with a penchant for hating robots decided it'd be fun to take his magpistol and blow away a few passerbys. Sure, there'd be fines, maybe even some jail time for what he pulled." Bubble Crab took another step closer, his eyes enraged now. "But let's face it. When a human kills a reploid in cold blood, he gets at most a few months in jail. When a reploid kills a human, even by ACCIDENT, that reploid's torn apart into scrap without so much as an inquiry."

X backed away a few steps, but kept his Buster charged.

He stared back at the Maverick.

"If that's so, why then do you attack those reploids that will not join you?" Bubble Crab rubbed his chin.

"Same reason that humans did to their own kind hundreds of years ago. If you're not with us, then you're against us." Bubble Crab glowered. "And you, X, are most definitely against us."

"And you, you Goddamned Maverick," X shot back with his rage in full bloom, "Are nothing more than another notch on my roster of kills."

Bubble Crab couldn't help but crack a smile.

"Give me a break. How can you expect to do any sort of reasonable damage with that popgun? My armor's tempered to withstand pressures in the thousands of TONS." X shook his head.

"No one is unbeatable, Crab. I'll show you that firsthand." Bubble Crab sighed, then shrugged his shoulders.

"You can try." 

X fired off both supershots without even thinking, but Bubble Crab proved that his mass was not without boost. The Maverick took a gigantic leap that cleared the room's length and threatened to crush X into the floor.

But the Blue Bomber of 21XX had his own tricks, dashing out of the way and opening fire with a wide spray of smaller plasma bullets. Some hit, but did little to no damage. 

Bubble Crab clacked his fists together, then sighed.

"This battle environment's a little too bland for my tastes." X perked his ears up, holding back another charge. The Maverick lifted his arms up…

And somehow triggered a sudden rush of seawater into the room. It filled up to the very brim, until both X and his foe were ensnared in a room of the same murky seawater X had traversed outside. The only difference was the bright lights which kept his visibility up.

The Maverick seemed pleased, then turned back to X.

"Shall we continue?" 

Underwater, X's movement proved to be more sluggish than if he had been on dry land. Moving against the water was different than pushing his body against air, and it was an advantage Bubble Crab had counted on. 

Gasping, X felt something vicious bite into his back. He dashed forward a bit more and turned about, watching as a thoroughly satisfied Maverick picked himself up from his crouching position and disarmed the plasma energy blades his shoulder blades had emitted. X shook his head and the dizzying sensation that accompanied the warnings.

_That Bastard almost sliced through my armor…_

Or would have, were it not the next generation piece of machinery that X's gift from the departed Doctor Light it had been designed as. Still, it had knocked off a fair chunk of his energy, and the next attack might slice clean through the protective metal and attack far more delicate internal circuitry.

"Just like I thought." Bubble Crab harrumphed in pleasure. "Stick you in the deep, you're like a fish out of water." 

"I'll thank you not to use that sort of badgering wordplay." X grumbled back. Truthfully, because they were underwater, they could not speak in a manner that would be audible in normal air. Like the fight X had held with Launch Octopus during the First Uprising, they were communicating via commlink. "And for the record Bubble, I haven't run out of tricks yet."

"Neither have I." The Maverick said boastfully, crossing his arms. He narrowed his vision. "But if you think you have something, try it."

_He'll pay for his arrogance._

**I dunno, X…He seems to be pretty good. Up until this point, your basic Buster's seen you through pretty well. That thing on your arm may not cut it.**

X drew in his arms towards his body, in a predictable maneuver. Bubble Crab's eyes widened for a moment, then he finally crouched inwards.

The G-Crush exploded from the Maverick Hunter with its usual fury, but underneath the waves, its fury was dampened so much that all it did was cause the protected Maverick to bounce back a few meters.

Bubble Crab emerged from his crouch and grinned at X.

"Nice trick, but a wasted effort, boy."

X did his best to keep the desperation from showing.

_Great, now what?_

**Well, let me see here. He's a Maverick designed to live under the waves. Kinda stupid to think the G-Crush, for all its power is gonna do much, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU'RE UNDER FRIGGING WATER!!!**

Bubble Crab unleashed a horde of tiny robotic crabs, each contained in their own bubble. X recognized it instantly, a pseudo-descendant of the Bubble Lead robot Doctor Wily had kept in his Third Ring. Sure, these versions were far smaller and therefore less potent, but…

_Damnit, I'm in it deep here…_

**Deep's the optimum word. But I have a suggestion, if you're willing to try it.**

What?

**He's a crab.** The voice said drily. **_Crack his shell._**

X used his Dash Thrusters again, narrowly scooting away from Bubble Crab's horrendous slam attack in time.

_Of course…_

The Maverick unleashed another wave of robotic crabs in their bubbles. X gritted his teeth and switched over to a Special Weapon…one that turned his armor green aside from the white and gold.

Quickly, he switched over his Level 2 Buster charge into the matter replicators, waiting anxiously for the charge to reach Level 4…the point where he could unleash the attack that would hopefully level the odds. 

The projectiles sent out by the Maverick homed in on X, drawing closer and close by the moment on an unalterable and dangerous path. And Bubble Crab laughed, a horrendous and malignant laugh that could be heard ever so clearly over the commlink.

X shut his eyes, listening to the telltale whines he'd become familiar with…the whines of his Buster's charge levels. 

Finally, it reached its peak charge. X released the trigger with nary a second thought.

X wasn't watching. His eyes were shut as the Bubble Lead impacted with his body, crushing him to the ground. But the shot was fired.

The Spin Wheel emerged from his Buster, malevolent as always. But this time, the added charge came with an enhanced effect…

Instead of dropping to the floor and tearing off to whatever port of call it felt like, the Wheel spun in midair for a brief moment as it correlated X's position. Then, sure the attack would not strike him as well…It exploded.

The Wheel was transformed into a storm of shrapnel, each shot as devastatingly offensive as the basic Spin Wheel. 

Two connected solidly with Bubble Crab, each impact throwing him backwards. Stunned and dazed, the Maverick collapsed onto his back, growling and picking himself back up.

His growl was cut short as his voice choked. X finally opened his eyes.

Stunned, the Hunter could only gape in amazement at what he saw.

There were two gaping holes in Bubble Crab's chest, both so close to each other it looked like a single blast had struck. And there was one very important thing missing from Bubble Crab's chest.

It lay in the corner of the flooded room, still intact. And thank God it was, or the entire room and everything in it might have been blown to atoms.

What lay still active, still functioning, but severed from its owner was the very thing that gave him life.

Bubble Crab's Microfusion Tank.

Sensing that there was no power drain from it, and that it would eventually cause a power buildup and subsequent explosion, the Microfusion Tank underwent its automatic shutdown procedures. Within a few seconds, the fusion power source would be dead, its reaction ceased.

But Bubble Crab didn't have that long. Collapsing onto his knees, he stared up at X with an incredulous stare, one that grew duller and duller as he began to run out of his sustenance. The Maverick had enough energy to open his mouth and utter one slow, stuttering word…

"Im…possib…llle…" And like so many before, the Maverick collapsed.

Defeated at the hands of a prototype robot who did not want to kill, but knew why he had to.

Calmly, X walked over and laid a hand on Bubble Crab's forehead, accessing his Weapons Copy program and allowing it to scan his foe.

A new icon appeared on his menu, under the heading BUBBLE SPLASH. X set his jaw and stood back up from his crouch.

He noticed that the room was draining the water out. Apparently without its Master, the room was returning to normal.

_Well, I say we backtrack a little._

**Lemme guess. We're gonna snag that thing we couldn't reach.**

Yes. This Bubble Splash is capable of increasing my buoyancy if it's charged. It should do the trick nicely.

X waited until all the water had drained out, and then he opened the rotating door and went back the way he'd come. 

On the way out, he reset the Deep Sea Base computers to initiate a complete 96 hour lockdown. No one would get in after he left. That would be long enough for him to finish this business on Cornus.

Long enough for him to put a stop to the Mavericks once and for all.


	14. A Bug in The System

**__**

MEGA MAN X: ISLAND OF AWAKENING

By Erico

CHAPTER TWELVE: A BUG IN THE SYSTEM

This was the final effort, Violen realized with grim fervor. 

Seven times. 

Seven times now Mega Man X had warped down to Cornus.

Seven times the crucial operations of the Maverick Generals had been stopped.

Seven times allies had died. . .all at the hands of a warrior whose only motivation was rage.

The burly, simian like reploid double checked the device strung about his waist. He looked up at Magnus, more commonly Magna Centipede for a word of reassurance.

"You sure this'll work?" The four armed Maverick clacked his mandibles together, vexed close to his breaking point.

"For the fiftieth time. . ."

"Fifty-first." Violen corrected softly.

"FIFTY FIRST TIME, YES THE SONOFABITCH WORKS!!" Violen didn't cringe, and the exasperated Maverick General Magnus sighed.

"Anyhow." That was one of the things about him. He didn't stay mad nearly as long as the others. "I was sort of stunned that AGILE came up with this plan, you know?"

Violen shrugged.

"He's smarter than me." 

"Yeah, but forgive a more brilliant mind to bring up the concept that it was SERGES who put most of our stuff together." Magnus shrugged. "I just don't get it. He's not the same Agile who was here on the 19th. . .and he sure as Hell isn't the same Agile who hid in Ice Fortress after X mopped the floor with him."

"So he's grown more confident."

"More sinister is more like it. . ." Magnus muttered. He nodded to Violen. "Shall I give you the rundown on what that thing will do again?"

Violen looked at him with a blank stare. Manus rolled his eyes

"I guess I should." He stepped about and sat down. "That thing is a personal transportation device. Now, I know for a fact that X used something similar when he took down Flame Stag in the Volcano Base. But the principles are the same. You attach it to whatever, feed it some locations, and activate the sucker. Whammo, the device and whatever it's attached to are sent off to whatever location exist. You with me so far?"

Violen was still staring blankly. Magnus groaned and drew a hand across his face.

"Listen. Little thingy send big thingy far, far away." Violen's eyes flickered with a little disgust.

"I'm not THAT stupid." Magnus chortled.

"Riight. . .and I'm not that smart. Anyhow." He twirled his chair around for a moment, then blinked out.

Violen blinked in surprise for a moment, but then let his gaze return to normal.

It was just one of Magna Centipede's tricks. . .the ability to move from point to point in a room with a highly complex particle warp system. Boomer Kuwanger and Sigma had held warp boots, and Magnus' parlor trick ran on the same sort of system. Instead of allowing the owner to go from point to point in a blinding flash of light that could take him miles away, the 'quickwarp' philosophy let the owner move from point to point in a flash that allowed him to avoid attacks.

The beauty about 'quickwarp' or mere 'warp' as it was known sometimes, was that it could be combined with dash boots and normal long distance warp transportation devices. 

The downside was that it drained a lot of power, and was therefore rendered useless for larger reploids and Mavericks with more aggressive weapons systems. And in the worst case scenario, it could blink out completely and never re-form the user. . .doomed as a cloud of particles for the rest of eternity, never dead, and never alive.

Magna Centipede however, was the rare case. He didn't use dash boots, considered them useless. And he'd also eliminated a long distance warp generator from himself, opting to only have the 'quickwarp' engine. . .and the other various tricks in his personal arsenal. He wasn't the most heavily armored Maverick. In a head-on firefight, he didn't pack the most heat.

His power lay in his mobility. . .and the crafty approach he used to taking out foes. 

And so, Violen found it little concern when Magnus reappeared, attached to the ceiling above by his boots.

"Oh, knock it off." The X-Hunter grumbled. "Save that for X."

Magnus dropped back down to the ground, his face still serious.

"And he will come. Anyhow, this device has a special feature that the Hunters more than likely never bothered to consider. . ."

"The signature copy." Violen replied tonelessly.

"Yes, the signature copy." Magna Centipede said with a grin. "A rather nasty little trick that masks your primary warp signature with a false one that resembles another warp signature to a t." Magnus rubbed his chin. "In this case, the warp signature of one Mega Man X, Maverick Hunter."

The alarms went off only a second later, causing Magna Centipede's eyes to darken.

"Well, he's here. We have an unauthorized warp that just passed through Cornus's EM shield." 

"And we can't make the EM shield impervious to warp-ins because. . ."

"Because if we had, you wouldn't have been able to make it here and participate in Agile's 'Grand Plan', you simian simpleton." Magna Centipede muttered. "Now go along and do the next part of the mission. And make sure that thing is set to take you back to Ice Fortress and not here."

"Is there anything else I should know?" Violen asked.

"Can your pea-sized brain handle it?" Magnus muttered under his breath. Violen perked his ears up.

"What?"

"I said, if you run into trouble, hammer it." Magnus said quickly. "Aside from that, just try not to get that thing hit. It does a good job of warping you in and out covertly so they won't know where you came from and where you're headed, but that effect only works if the secondary power source on the side doesn't get knocked off." He pointed to a smaller capsule of energy attached to a port on the side of the device strapped on Violen's waist. "That thing powers the signature's anti-tracking equipment. I couldn't make it run off the primary charge without draining the total systems life to ten minutes. . .useless for this mission."

Violen nodded for a moment, then tapped the activate button on the makeshift device.

He vanished in a flash of light.

But as Magnus watched, the amber hued beam of light morphed, shifted, and changed. . .until it was a cyan blue, shooting for regions unknown.

The Maverick General smiled in spite of X's arrival.

"This plan just might work after all. . ."

_The final sanctuary of the Maverick regime._

**Yup.**

And this makes eight.

**Yes.**

X stood for a moment in the room. These were the coordinates he'd been given by the reluctant GDC task force for Cornus. 

Apparently he was in a side meeting room in the Central Computer Complex, a good distance away from the center of the facility. With good reason. X's systems could bring him in through the island's main EM shield, but there was a highly concentrated field surrounding the structure's center.

Which meant that was where the final Maverick was located.

_Times like these I begin to wonder…_

**Wonder what?**

Was the Maverick cause all wrong? Morally, yes, their use of extreme violence turned them into little more than idealistic serial killers…

**Buuut…**

Well, they are right. I've lived a naïve and sheltered life, and I know for a fact that others of my kind…

**Your children, you mean?**

Please, don't call them that!! X shouted back forcefully. The voice sighed.

**_Technically, I'm right._** The voice said.

_I know for a fact that others of my kind are not nearly so well off as me._ X shot back, ignoring the voice's statement. _What the Mavericks do is wrong, and yes, they are a menace. I promised to save lives, to make sure that no innocents would suffer at their hands. That is why I fight. The ones that truly deserve to die do so. . .the ones that killed Jim Dacker and Cancer and all those others back at the MHHQ and Tokyo as a whole._

**Buuut…**

The cause is right enough. Reploids are treated like second class citizens, like all the racism and segregation that came in human ages before. We have a right to life, and as thinking, sentient creatures, we are as entitled to all of humanity's rights. All men and women are. 

**I get the reasoning, X. We're men and women too, reploids. We're just made of metal instead of flesh.**

"And it'll all be over after this." X said wearily. "After a year, the need for the Maverick Hunters will finally end. The Mavericks will be no more, and steps can be taken towards the reploid's freedoms. The right way."

**_You have grown stronger, X._** The voice said in admiration. **_Stronger than when I first met you._**

X grinned as he walked out of the small meeting room with the circular table and holographic display, blasting away a Barrier Attacker's shield, then the sentry drone itself.

_And when did you meet me?_

**When I woke up for the first time.**

X paused in midstep, ignoring the shreds of the Barrier Attacker he'd blown to bits. His eyes burned narrowly for a moment.

He had known only three individuals in his time who he'd met when they had woken up. And one of them was Sigma, which left him out of the question.

_So who are you then…_X asked warily.

_Cancer…_

Or Zero…

And the voice sighed, said to X he was indeed ready to finally know.

And told him.

James Cain was sitting in the command chair of the MHHQ's 'War Room', one of a few names for the control nexus of viewscreens, monitoring systems, and status databases. From here, a competent team of technicians and operators could glean and relay crucial data, be it a radio transmission from forces in the field or satellite images coming in from above. Hunters could be ordered out, and ordered back in just as easily. 

Above all other importance to the MHHQ was its safety protocols. After having been attacked from the inside out before, Cain knew all too well that their sacred lair was all too vulnerable. To that end, there was now a continual EM shield about the base.

It wasn't a large scale shield, because that would effectively blind them to the outside world. In an age where the danger existed not within, but from the outside, the prime worry to the Hunters was unfriendly forces waging for a direct attack on their base.

The EM's shield only power lay in blocking warp signals that weren't recognized by the scanners. Each individual reploid and robot generated a different warp field if they possessed the proper technology, as distinct to them as fingerprints are to humans. This allowed Hunters to come and go with ease, yet block other. . .more dangerous signals. . .from getting through. Signals like Mavericks hoping for a surprise attack.

Mega Man X, however, was a Hunter. As such, the shield never concerned him.

A familiar cyan blue beam of light and particles flung itself down towards the MHHQ, barely even slowing down as it passed through the EM shield. 

The scanners recognized it as friendly, and chirped a message to that effect to the War Room.

A base operator on duty at the internal conditions post blinked a few times, then turned his head, his chin covered with a tuft of white gray hair and two oblong horns jutting from his head. There was no need for his helmet, the reploid shrugged.

"Doctor Cain?" The reploid operator queried. Cain looked over from the main viewscreen, happy to turn away from viewing the GDC "Cornus Incident Special Council's" latest reports.

"Something important, Bill?" The reploid winced a bit. Yes, that was his name. Bill. Bill the reploid goat. He didn't remember how many times he'd been heckled about the other two goats gruff before Cain told him to butt them into a wall the next time they 'got his goat.' He had a lot of respect for James Cain. He would die for James Cain.

"Not really, no." Bill said nonchalantly. "X just warped back to the MHHQ sooner than expected." Cain frowned and got up from his seat, hobbling over next to Bill the reploid goat and leaning his free hand on the console's seat for added support. He peered his wrinkled head down and stared at the screen, his eyesight as good as ever.

Sure enough, the EM shield's systems were reporting that Mega Man X, Commander of the 17th Maverick Hunter Unit had returned.

"Odd. . ." Cain muttered in slight befuddlement. "I would have given him at least another hour and a half, travel time included. . ." Cain shrugged. "But I guess even X can move a bit faster than usual." He chuckled a bit. "That's the final Maverick stronghold. X probably thought he'd go in with all guns blazing and come back home, riding off into the sunset."

"That sounds like X, all right." Bill admitted with a slight smirk. While not a true Maverick Hunter, and thusly not under X's direct command, the reploid, like many others knew of X's aversion to fighting. "Get it done, come home, and try to forget about it."

Cain's hand however, wasn't as convinced as his voice. His fingers thrummed steadily on the seat's edge for a few moments.

"So. . .where did he come in?" Cain asked unsteadily. Bill tapped a few commands on his keyboard with his humanoid hands, not hooves as one might expect, and looked up at Cain in askance.

"Odd. . .All the other times, X has gone to the Medical Bay, your office, or right here." Cain frowned.

"So?" Bill turned back around and tapped on the screen, unsure.

"It says here he warped into the weapons depot."

"That's clear on the other side of the building!!" Cain grumbled. "I guess the guy wants to take one Hell of a walk."

"I guess. . ." Bill echoed, his voice still shaky and unconfident.

Clear on the other side of the building, a figure walked about the armory, examining the vast array of weaponry at his disposal.

But it wasn't Mega Man X. 

The device attached to his belt had worked exactly as planned. Grinning a wide toothy grin on his apelike, or perhaps piglike face, he calmly reached for a belt piled high with fragmentation grenades and slung it about his should and arm, then reached for a high impulse heavy plasma cannon. Not the typical X-Buster in design, this particular model was built for mounting on hovercars and other heavily armored transports. It was pretty heavy too. Violen was not one to give a damn about that, and he lugged the thing into both hands with ease.

Violen had been given a very thorough look at the MHHQ's schematics from the data their late leader Sigma had put down for future generations. It was accurate enough to bring him into the armory unscathed. It was accurate enough to take him anywhere else he wanted to go.

And where he wanted to go was someplace he wasn't quite sure of yet. All he knew was that X wasn't on base, and that more than likely the rest of the Hunters were greenhorns.

He cocked the power mechanism back on his cannon, feeling the distinct and satisfying 'kerrchatck' that the designers had kept from the previous age of projectile weaponry. Next came the whine as the devices' power cells came online.

Violen grinned broadly and walked toward the exit to the rest of the MHHQ.

"Enough good cop, bad cop, Hunters. Now you're the prey."

X still had a tough time keeping his bearings straight.

"I still can't believe it…" The Maverick Hunter croaked, his head shaking back and forth in disbelief. "I mean, all this time…I never thought you'd come back, Zero."

**_Aaw, quit your damn blubbering, X. I've missed you too, all right?_** Zero grumbled back, his gruffish voice failing to hide his true joy. After all, they were friends.

And now they were back together.

X shook his head.

"I still don't get it…I mean, your body's back at the MHHQ, Zero. How can you talk to me?"

**_As far as I know, I've been talking to you before you even got a third of me back. I can't explain why I can talk to you either…remember, I've never 'died' before. It's a new experience._**

"But why all the secrets?" X asked suddenly. "Why the smoke and mirrors, why the jesting comments? Why the drill sergeant routine?"

**_X, think for a moment. What was my main concern with you during the First Uprising?_**

"That I couldn't handle it?" X replied hollowly. 

**_Exactly. You weren't strong enough…strong enough in the mind. By some miracle…by fate, perhaps…you carried on after my death and succeeded, so I now know. But you were running on rage and reploid adrenaline._**

"I'm not a reploid." X retorted.

**_Thanks for clearing me on that point, Sherlock. The reason I took such a roundabout route to telling you was I didn't think you could handle it. But you've grown, X. Cornus Island has done more to make you the Maverick Hunter I always knew you could be._**

"Yeah. Tell that to my spirit."

**_You said it yourself, X. You fight to preserve the innocents that would be lost._**

"As true now as ever." X replied, grunting as he hurtled himself against the wall to avoid a scanning spotlight. "Bloody Hell…the Maverick here's set up enough of these things to be a real pain."

**_Yeah, there's a reason. He wants to know when you're coming. Those sensor sweeps of his would fit the bill…if he could ding you with one._**

X unleashed a charged up Flame Burner and skimmed over another one in a flash of fire.

"But I'll say this. He packs enough trouble in this base. One Installer, and one funky ass holographic sword on top of everything else."

**_Yes…that sword. _**Zero mused. **_Odd, don't you think? It seemed to lack physical form._**

"Do you think there was a fallacy about it?"

**_I think it was a ruse…meant to hide the true identity of something else._**

"You think it wasn't a sword attacking me until I blew it to shreds?"

**_I'm thinking it was some sort of robotic sentry with a wicked cutting edge and hovertechnology._**

"Makes sense." X muttered. "What I saw was merely a ruse to disguise the true weapon, eh?"

**_Either that or the Mavericks have found a way to solidify particle energy into a state it can take the shape of a sword._**

"I don't suppose there's any way to confirm either theory?" X asked, finally dropping down to the bottom of the shaft and whistling appreciatively at his efforts as the scanner lights moved back and forth above him.

**_I'm no scientist, X. That was something your dad might have been able to do, but I'm just a reploid who didn't know when to die._**

"I'm thankful for that." X said quietly. "It would have been a boring life without you, Zero."

**_Hell, you'd be DEAD if it weren't for me. Lay the credit where it belongs, okay bubsy?_**

X stepped out into the next section of the Central Computer Complex.

He grimaced as the ceiling began to drop blocks towards him, the ones that had already landed solidifying into the floor. Above the mess was another scanning beam his helmet detected. This one moved slower, and probably served more of a purpose than to merely alert the base about an intruder. And the beam was slowly creeping towards him.

"Well, that's definitely weird."

**_Yeah, just get past here as soon as you can, X. _**Came the joking voice of Zero. **_We have Mavericks to destroy before we sleep._**

"And promises to keep." Replied X.

The first sign for most of the Maverick Hunter HQ that anything was amiss was the first horrendous explosion that made the building shudder to its very foundations.

Then the klaxons began to wail…

Wailed in a tone that had not been heard in more than six months.

Most of the greenhorns on the base were unfamiliar with it, had not been briefed on it. All of them turned their heads up in shock and surprise. Few knew what it truly meant, save for the few operators on call who got a text alarm flash on their screens in the War Room.

Only James Cain, founder and supreme commander of the Maverick Hunters knew what that warbling electronic howl meant.

His skin paled even whiter than his beard, and his white knuckled grip tightened on the armrest.

"Mavericks on base…" Cain whispered, not audible to any Hunter, technician or operator on call in the War Room.

"Gimme a status report!" Barked the chief of the watch. Cain was on his feet quicker than the nearest technician could respond.

"WE HAVE MAVERICKS ON BASE!!" Cain screamed, his voice cracking at the end and failing him. Exhausted by the sudden burst of power, Cain slumped back into his chair, his bad leg screaming at him for such a stupid action. 

All heads turned to look at Cain. All those horrified eyes…

"B…But…" The chief of the watch began. Cain shut his eyes, disbelieving it himself. But he was re-living the nightmare…

The nightmare where Jim Dacker died saving his life.

"I don't know how he got in either…"

But Cain knew one thing for damn sure. 

There was an explosion on the other side of the building.

And someone had triggered the full Hell alert switch.

"Goddamnit." Violen muttered, staring at the half vaporized carcass of the Maverick Hunter who had first laid eyes on him. The charred metal and wiring left off an acrid odor, but the being was truly dead. "I was hoping to go unnoticed for a while longer." The Maverick lamented. Shrugging in dismay, and knowing he could do no more to help it, he tore off down the sideway. He had places to go, and a mission to fulfill.

Hazil too, heard the alarm. And he too knew exactly what it meant. 

"Oh, Sod it all…" The Medical reploid muttered, jerking away from his latest batch of medical reports and pushing his tread base to drag him to the other side of the room.

He lowered his right hand down and punched in a series of numbers on an electronically sealed safe. His eyes were narrower than ever as he stared at the device as it flashed green.

"I had hoped it'd never come to this, Zero…" Hazil muttered. Reaching inside as it hissed open, he finally claimed the device inside as he shoved his hand in.

Or rather, the device claimed his hand.

He reluctantly pulled back his limb, feeling an unfamiliar twinge of pain shoot up his arm. At the end where his arm should have been below the elbow now lay a bulbous protrusion of grayish metal, oval with a ruby port at the end.

Hazil cocked his X-Buster and turned about to face the door. 

His eyes were now mere squints of what they once had been. His jaw was firm.

No fear seeped into his eyes as the Medical Bay door refused entry with a chittering bleep. A second time.

And at long last came the shuddering impact of something heavy and spiked slamming into the hydraulically operated shutters. The door bent under the blow.

And another blow.

And another.

Hazil steadied his X-Buster and began to charge it up, hearing the whine of destruction run through his body like ice water and echo about in his mind.

_Please…Please, oh PLEASE let it be enough…_

The doors finally gave in completely, snapping from their hinges and clattering to the floor with a dismal groan of tortured metal. Hazil felt a strong odor seep into his nostrils, almost causing him to cringe. The stink of death and destruction…

And from that smoky fog of the MHHQ's circular hallways walked a large and ominous figure, a bulky plasma cannon gripped steadily in its gaping paws.

The Maverick's features snapped into focus, and it stared down at Hazil for a moment. It grinned in sadistic joy.

"What, is this the best the Hunters can throw at me? A puny tin man on wheels with a popgun on his arm?" Hazil didn't let the voice unnerve him. He stared the behemoth down…

David Vs. Goliath, on December 30th, 2118.

Violen's laugh was low, ominous…hollowly evil.

For the first time since the alarms went off only seconds before, Hazil shuddered.

Back in the War Room, a capable Doctor Cain finally came to a conclusion of just why a Maverick would be here.

It chilled him to the bone.

_Oh God no…tell me they're not…_

"This is the War Room to the Medical Bay. RESPOND." All waited with baited breath in the War Room…but no response came.

"Repeat, Medical Bay, can you respond?!" Cain tried again, his voice slipping into desperation.

"Cain, what's going on here?!" The chief of the watch demanded. Cain turned, looking at the reploid with a stare that did little to hide his own fear.

"The Maverick is going for Zero."

By this time in the entire Cornus mess, every Hunter knew that Mega Man X had fought against terrifying odds to reclaim the long lost parts of the famous Maverick Hunter Zero, whose career was shortlived yet spectacular.

The War Room fell silent and stunned at Cain's words.

But the reploid goat named Bill stood up and faced the others, clearing his throat.

"I'm going down there." Cain turned, incredulously staring at the Maverick Hunter.

"But…"

"Cain, no buts. No doubts. I'm a Hunter, and he's a Maverick. I can't just sit here and watch as that bastard RECLAIMS ZERO AND LAYS DESTRUCTION TO OUR BASE!!!" Bill was a greenhorn, but in that moment, his heart burned with the fire of the Maverick Hunter.

Cain had seen that same glimmer before…his eyes quavering, he nodded weakly towards the reploid.

Bill wasted no time in tearing out of the room and down the hallway towards the Medical Bay, dash thrusters burning as fast as they could.

Somehow, Cain kept standing, leaning on the walking stick he had been cursed to use since the base had first been attacked on June 4th.

"God help us all…" He managed to croak in a feeble voice.

And the klaxons wailed…

"LAST CALL!!" Hollered X, firing his last supershot towards the behemoth 'Installer' guardian that the Mavericks had sent to face him. It wasn't a very widely known or widely used defensive measure, because its lasers were relatively weak, its rate of fire was slow, and its overall speed was slower.

What it did have was undeniable defense. 

Of course, like most other bulky and heavily armored drones X had gone up against, he'd found that the quickest way through them wasn't through a hailstorm of plasma but a highly focused strike with his Spin Wheel. A charged up shrapnel blast of his special weapon had gutted a gaping hole into the beast. It was that hole X was now exploiting with his basic weapon. 

The Installer shuddered as the plasma burned through, then collapsed. Its power generator gave out a few moments later and the entire apparatus whined down into shutoff.

Shaking his head, X trod onwards and walked through the exit of the room.

_We should be getting closer to the center of this place._

**Yeah. It's weird how you say 'we' though, X. As far as I'm concerned, you're you and I'm me. I'm my own spirit, free as can be.**

_And once I'm done here, we can go home…and we can bring you back._

Zero laughed at that.

**_I wonder how those damned Rookie Hunters'll take it…the great Zero, returned from the dead. _**

Well, I expect their jaws'll hit the floor. Then they'll start groaning once you start training them.

**Come to think of it, I never trained you…**

You didn't have the time. X reminded him firmly, partially sad as he remembered those opening days of horror, but not letting it tamper with his good mood completely.

**_Aah, you turned out all right. _**

X yelped as he suddenly felt the floor give way underneath him. Using his Air-Dash, he made it to the other side of the newly formed chasm and jumped to safety. He stared down behind him for a moment before his experience wiped the surprise away.

"Figures. Removable floor." He looked on in front of him, and saw that at the end of the corridor lay a shutter gateway.

_It's a corridor of perils._

**I guess this Maverick isn't done testing you. **

"I'll just test him a bunch to make up for it once I get to him then." X grumbled. 

**_Well, I don't think he could surprise you much. You've got a lot more tricks now than you did before. _**

The rest of the trek was filled with a series of perils that weren't all that difficult, but nonetheless did a fantastic job of keeping X on edge.

But at last, after blasting through dropping security boxes with energy cannons and dashing over failing bridges, he made it.

Victorious, he stood before the door to the Maverick's lair.

_This is it, Zero…At long last, it's FINALLY OVER!!_

But no response came. Frowning, X spoke up louder, actually opening his mouth.

"Zero??"

Nothing. X suddenly felt very unsure of himself.

"Zero…??" Nothing. Zero's presence was no longer in his head.

Something was very wrong. "So I'm alone, then…" X muttered, disbelieving. After all this time, he had gotten Zero back…why now, after revealing who he was, did his presence leave him?

More importantly…

Did X have the skills to face this Maverick without Zero's encouragement?

Hazil's breathing came shallowly. 

He'd be lying if he didn't say his body hurt like Hell.

One arm lay useless at the floor, blown off by a fragmentation grenade thrown by the bulky Maverick. The room wasn't in the best of condition from the attack, either…but Hazil wasn't concerned about the room.

He wasn't concerned that much about himself in the long run. It was that damnable uncompleted body of Zero he was worried about. There was no way the Mavericks were going to get their hands on it…It had been theirs once, but by the twist of fate known as paranoia and backup measures, the control chip of Zero had returned to the clutches of the Hunters. But it was a one shot precaution…

And if this Maverick reclaimed Zero…now fully repaired, reconstructed, and only hours away from being fully awakened…

"DAMN YOU, NO!!!" Hazil screamed, raising his only remaining arm, the one with the Buster.

Violen rolled his eyes and leveled his much larger and much more devastating plasma weapon.

Hazil's shot went low, and wasn't accurate. All it managed to do was tear off a tiny power node attached to the belt on the Maverick's waist. 

Violen's shot however, was more accurate. And deadly.

Hazil screamed louder than ever as a good square two feet of his torso was blown off and slammed against the wall. The medical reploid stumbled back in shock and collapsed onto the floor, his arms flailing for anything within reach to stop his fall.

It just so happened what his fumbling fingers latched onto was a curtain draped about to hide a medical bed. 

Lying on that medical bed was the fully constructed form of Zero. Every line of him built just as Violen remembered seeing him on Serge's boat before the stupefying loss of his control chip.

Violen grinned a toothy smile.

"Hello, Zero…miss me??" 

"No, damn you…" Hazil wheezed, his optics blurry and unresponsive to his demands. His body hadn't been built for combat…he was closer to death than he'd ever been before. Violen clucked in dismay and shook his head.

"You fool. You can't stop me. And if you were having any questions about that…" Violen turned about a bit and swung his mace tail down in a vicious slam.

Hazil once more screamed as his only remaining arm was crushed into oblivion, rendering the Buster useless into a mess of sparking wiring, reploid blood, shattered crystal and flattened metal.

Violen was still smiling that Maverick stare of sick pleasure as Hazil gasped for air, now completely helpless lying there.

"And you are mine." Violen restated, reaching for Zero's body.

But the fight wasn't done yet…

Out of the blue, the reploid goat known as Bill hurtled himself into the room, lowering his hard head down and slamming full force into Violen. Bleating a war cry, he shoved every erg of his strength into the blow.

Violen was caught completely off guard by the attack, and was flung across the room to slam headfirst into the opposing wall. The room shook from the attack's ferocity, and Bill stood his ground, Buster raised for a retaliation.

But what followed was a move he did not expect. The massive mace attached to the Maverick's backside suddenly sprang to life flying towards him at unimaginable speed.

Bill, the brave but foolish greenhorn of the Maverick Hunters had only enough time to widen his eyes in surprise before he was smashed against the wall.

Violen shook his head and turned about, still slightly dazed. But he grinned down at the newcomer, lying in his final dying moments.

His entire torso had been crushed inwards by Violen's mace tail. His Microfusion tank didn't go critical, but had managed to stop the reaction to a slow halt to prevent detonation.

"Game over, Hunter." Violen glowered. "You lose." Calmly, Violen stumbled back over to Zero and picked his sleeping body up, slinging it over his shoulder before he re-triggered his warp systems.

And after less than two minutes, Violen was gone. But his destruction, his influence still remained strong as ever. The cyan blue beam of light and particles pulsed of its own accord and hurtled skyward, leaving behind the utter destruction.

Only moments later, others arrived, Cain hobbling quicker than any of them and coming in only after the initial Hunters had made sure the Maverick was gone.

The founder of the reploid race felt his face blanch. Yes, he had seen destruction before, but it never ceased to bother him.

"Bill…" Cain uttered tonelessly, seemingly distant from the horror. The goat reploid looked up, his face full of pain, both physical and psychological.

"I…I tried to…" Cain gingerly placed a hand on the crumpled form of the Hunter.

"I know." 

"He was…too much…Too much for me to handle…" Bill coughed, and Cain saw his eyes grow dimmer. "My…systems shutting down…" 

"Your Microfusion tank?"

"Shut off…" Bill said weakly. He looked at Cain, and focused enough of his final breath to utter one sentence. "I would have died to protect you…Cain…" His eyes blurred over completely and he slumped over…now nothing more than an empty shell.

One of the other Hunters looked over, shocked.

"Who…who was he?" Cain got back up and turned to them, his face ashen.

"He was one of you…a Maverick Hunter." Cain bit his lip and turned to the other side of the room, where a few Hunters were tending to a weakened Hazil. Once more, Cain felt the sting of nausea bite into him as he looked on Hazil's torn, melted, charred, smashed and severed body. But inured by the death of Bill, he walked over stolidly and held his stomach.

"Where did he go, Hazil?" Hazil couldn't focus on Cain, but he heard the question and responded in a slurred voice.

"Awaaay…." Cain's eyes narrowed.

"God almighty…what did he do?" Hazil looked at Cain with despair and frustration, hidden somewhat by the incurable pain racking through his body.

"He…toook….Zeroooooooo…."

Hazil slumped into stasis, his body too devastated to keep him conscious any longer. A batch of medical techs ran in and made their way to Hazil. Cain tapped their leader on the shoulder firmly. Confused, the fellow looked up.

"You will save his life." Cain said through gritted teeth. The medical techs merely nodded and took Hazil to a corner of the room, beginning their grisly work of reconstructing the chief medical officer.

Cain plodded back out of the Medical Bay, still stunned by it all. Walking in a daze, he made his way back to his office, and the War Room not far from it.

"Sir?" Cain walked on, but the voice approaching him grew louder, finally snapping him free of his stupor. "Sir?!"

"What is it?" Cain muttered, looking up through tired eyes. The reploid operator from the war room handed Cain a printout on plain dot matrix paper.

It held a picture of the globe, and a set of very simple coordinates.

"The Maverick that warped out of here didn't mask his signal, sir. We know where he's going."

"And yet he still made it in…"

"Apparently they have a grasp on technology that allows them to mimick the warp signals of others…Like X." Said the reploid grimly. Cain looked at the paper one last time, then crumpled it in a wiry grasp with all his strength. Looking at the technician, his eyes burned with relit fury.

"So it seems that the Mavericks aren't done with us yet…"

The shutter door opened and closed. X breathed for a moment and paused, holding back his Buster's charge. The Maverick had yet to appear, but he would…

They always did.

And this case was no different. His method of appearing was unorthodox to a fault, though.

To the odd sound like a thousand insects scuttling about, the Maverick…a buglike construct as well…appeared. X narrowed his eyes, thinking that this was too strikingly similar to Boomer Kuwanger…

And that time he could have well died.

Save for Zero. 

"Well, I suppose I'm the last one then." The Maverick muttered, clasping his two pairs of hands together and forming guns from his index fingers. X didn't dignify the gesture, but nonetheless prepared himself for a sudden shift if need be. The Maverick smiled, a smile partially hidden by his metallic mandibles. "Tell me then, X. How many have you killed in cold blood?"

"Less than you and your kind." X retorted. The Maverick nodded sagely.

"So it is, so it is." He performed a slight bow, then returned to a poised stance. "My official Maverick designation is Magna Centipede. However, I still have the sense to remember my former name; Magnus."

X frowned.

"You're an odd one." Magna nodded, clucking his tongue.

"That's what happens when your regime goes to great lengths to lessen your destructive impulses…you go odd." X sidestepped a bit, watching to see Magnus's response. There was none.

"What do you mean?" X muttered. "You live for destruction." Magnus chortled.

"Usually…Violen is the prime example of that, I suppose. But I had to fill a role of infiltration…I was the first Maverick to come to Cornus Island." 

The announcement made X narrow his eyes.

"When…and how??"

"Well, the GDC was getting in a fresh supply of forces. It was a simple matter for me to dredge up my old name, which was still credible as a worker, and send it into the GDC for transfer to Cornus." He grinned. "As luck would have it, they decided the best job for me was a Janitor. Imagine that. Me, a Maverick, spending months cleaning up after those human's FILTH." Magnus sighed. "The behavioral limiters were there for a reason, I suppose. Otherwise, I could have gone off and killed one, blowing my cover. Plus, being a Janitor had its perqs. I could go most anywhere…Learn things I could not otherwise." Magnus nodded. "In all honesty X, the Mavericks have had their eye on this place since July. We just waited until the 19th of December for the irony of it."

"June 19th, 2118." X growled. "The night that Zero and I put a stop to Sigma."

"So you did, so you did…" Magnus mused. "It seemed fitting that the six month anniversary should have our retribution."

"So be it." X lifted his Buster up. "But now you will pay." Magnus shrugged, and the massive metallic pincer tail waved about behind him.

"You can try to make me." He offered with a coy smile.

X's two shots rang true, but it was to no avail. Magnus vanished out of existence, dispersed into a mad scattering of particles before the shots were even within scalding distance.

X heard the scattering sound again, and then raucous laughter. But the room had an ambience built into it that created an echo effect…X was unable to pinpoint the source of the voice.

"I said you can try. But now it's my turn." X frowned and looked about. Not behind him, not in front of him…

Suddenly, X gasped as he felt himself being pulled up from the floor. Staring up incredulously, he gaped at the Maverick vibrating his tail back and forth violently…more surprising was the fact he clung to the ceiling with ease.

"This entire room was designed for my specifications…" Came Magnus's jeering voice. "You can't pinpoint me by noise, I have the ability to cling to ceilings…" He chuckled. "And most impressively, X…this tail of mine allows me to do a nifty little trick."

Screaming, X tried to break free of the magnetic grip by using his Air-Dash. No effect.

X found himself being squeezed in that monstrous tail of Magna Centipede a fraction of a second later…

Gasping, he broke free by playing an uppercut onto Magnus' chin.

He landed roughly on the ground, and the Maverick reappeared in front of him. Magna crossed his arms and waited.

X got up and leveled his Buster, screaming in rage as he fired.

But only the smallest of shots left his primary weapon. 

Magna Centipede brought his tail about and deflected it with ease, grinning from ear to ear.

"It appears my trial was a success." X looked down at his Buster in befuddlement. He tried to charge it up…but it stubbornly refused.

"And now your precious plasma cannon is little more than a popgun, X!" Magna laughed. X shook his head in disbelief, but the reports were all too clear…

**X-Buster's charge function has been disabled. Repairs required.**

X's mouth went dry as a darkly laughing Magna Centipede began to walk towards him.

"Fool." Magnus hissed in satisfaction. "This is why we save the best for last."

What followed was sheer insanity…

Magnus laughing his damned fool head off, leaping about the room with that sick sense of pleasure as the Hunter frantically tried everything he knew to try and defeat his foe. 

"You'll have to do better than that!" Magna guffawed, warping away from a spray of plasma bullets. X gritted his teeth and cursed himself…

This was worse than what Crystal Snail had tried. And there had been a trick to him…

_Blast it, when I need Zero the most, he isn't here…_

Perhaps, X wondered as he air-dashed away from a handful of magnetic mines, Zero was merely keeping silent. He had told X after all, that what he had been trying to do was make X reach his true abilities as a Maverick Hunter…

But there was always a trick to these things…wasn't there??

X had tried most everything he'd come to rely on. Basic plasma, the Spin Wheel, he'd even shot off Speed Burners, Sonic Slicers, and a helping of Bubble Splash aside. But each time the effect was negligible, or the Maverick moved too fast for the shots to connect.

And it was all that damnable high tech equipment of his…

All that high wired electronics…

If only there was some way to JAM IT ALL…

If there was one thing that X never felt bad for having, it was ideas.

He'd fried Armadillo and Sigma with electricity. He'd tackled Sting with Boomerang Cutters.

And now, he came upon that same type of epiphany.

He turned and stared at Magna Centipede, all jeers and sinister grin.

Calmly, he selected one of his special weapons from his array and lifted his Buster. As he did, his armor changed to a shade of dark red and green along with his white. 

Magnus shook his head.

"Oh, please…like another weapons change is going to help you any." 

X fired, and Magnus, in all his adrenaline and ego filled stupor, blindly waited for the shot to connect.

But it wasn't a bolt of energy that surged at him. It was a clustering of metallic junk and wiring…

And once it struck, it spread out, exploding in all directions. 

X lowered his Buster and glowered at his handiwork, watching a stunned and stupefied Magna Centipede try to weedle his way out of the wiry cords that surrounded him. 

"Silk Shot." X explained dourly. "When nothing else works. And the bands began to constrict…

Screaming in rage, Magnus was helpless to do little else as the attack continued to bind him. In all his blind struggling, the mass of junk metal and scrap wires continued to grate away at him, tearing at him as he fought to break the bonds.

Finally, he did…but as the Silk Shot's remains were flung to the floor, so was Magna Centipede's precious tail, severed off by his own efforts. 

The Maverick looked at it in stunned disbelief, lying there useless as it leaked vital fluids…

He did not expect another pair of Silk Shot blasts to paste themselves to his body. But the effect was enough…

Once more immobilized, the Maverick stumbled to the floor from the impacts.

X took a few steps closer and fired another round. Now Magnus was decorated from head to toe by all the scrap. X switched over to normal plasma and leveled his Buster at Magna Centipede's head.

Eyes wide, the Maverick hit his escape mechanism, planning to reappear on the ceiling above for another strike, freed of his bonds and ready to punish X for this indignity…

But as the Maverick reappeared, something went horribly wrong. Something X recognized instantly when he saw that there were no Silk Shot remains lying barren on the ground where Magnus had fallen.

The tortured and agonized screams of the Maverick were worsened by the horribly disfigured appearance of him. For all the destruction he had seen in his life, X had to admit this was definitely weird.

Magna Centipede collapsed to the floor, a tattered monster of who he had once been.

When he had shifted away, his warp generator must have taken the Silk Shots along for the ride…upon reaching his destination, it had tried to comprehend where the extraneous material belonged in the Maverick General's schematics. And it had failed miserably.

But mercifully, Magna Centipede did not live long after that. The internal damage was too severe, and only seconds after writhing about on the ground, gasping like a wide eyed mackerel out of water…

He shut down. X shook his head and reached down, finding thankfully that the Silk Shot hadn't gone in and morphed his weapons systems.

The Magnet Mine now his, X stood tall.

Eight Mavericks defeated.

Eight Heart Tanks, Four Sub-Tanks and a new armor set claimed. And the body of Zero once more back in Hunter hands.

_You were right, Zero…you were right about me._

X took a brief moment of silence then and there.

And then he powered up his Warp Generator. Vanishing from the Central Computer Complex, he left Cornus. For the last time.

It was finally over.

It was time to go home.

But home…

Was not what he expected it to be. 

He'd come to the Medical Bay, figuring he might as well get his Buster fixed.

But it wasn't Hazil that reacted to him…It was a cluster of Maverick Hunters, their own Busters raised in self-defense. X only lifted up his eyebrows.

The Hunters breathed a sigh of relief and lowered their personal cannons.

"It's just you." One muttered thankfully. 

X felt his stomach hit the floor.

"What happened??" He whispered in a dry voice. 

X bothered to look around the room…

And there was no sign of the sleeping body of Zero.

Even worse, Hazil…

_My God…_

"Welcome back, X." Came a familiar voice. X turned about.

Cain looked more grimfaced than he had in a long time.

"You asked what happened. Well, I'll tell you." Cain rubbed at his eyes.

"Somehow X, those Mavericks had one final trick up their sleeves. A while after you left and arrived at the Central Computer Base…they sent a Maverick back here." X started to speak, but Cain silenced him by raising a hand. "And somehow they managed to discover a way to mask their own warp signatures with a duplicated signal. In this case, YOURS. Somehow, they discovered your precise warp frequency. Good enough to fool our scanners and allow him through."

"What did he look like?"

"Big, burly, had a mace attached to his ass."

"VIOLEN." X growled, his fist growing tighter until his fingers were digging into his hand. His eyes burned in rage. "I should have killed that bastard when I had the chance…but no, I spared him so he would be humiliated…"

"Zero would say that was a tactical mistake."

"At the time, he didn't much care." X growled. Cain lifted up an eyebrow. X looked at Cain with a deadpan stare. "So let me get this straight. Violen showed up out of the blue, wreaked havoc in the MHHQ, wiped the floor with Hazil and stuck my favorite doctor in critical condition…"

"And stole Zero." Cain finished grimly. He looked at X.

Never before had he seen the descendant of Mega Man so willing to kill anything in his path.

"But his escape wasn't foolproof…We were able to track him down." X stared at Cain, unspeaking, and the unnerved doctor continued. "A GDC spy satellite confirmed it. There's one last Maverick stronghold left to them. It's at Coordinates 00. The North Pole."

"Zero is there." X said tonelessly. Cain nodded. X turned to a Medical reploid and shoved his left arm out, morphing it into a Buster. His right one followed soon after.

"My last fight left these things incapable of charging. Fix 'em." The Medical Technician looked up at X for a moment, then at Cain.

Cain grimly nodded.

Five minutes later, the repair work was completed. X was once more at full health, and all his Sub-Tanks were charged.

Every Hunter in the Medical Bay stared at X in fear and respect.

Here was the greatest Maverick Hunter.

Cain leaned on his walking stick and looked at X with a saddened stare.

"So you'll be going then." X nodded, his rage gone for a stony stare.

"I won't let the Mavericks take Zero. I won't." 

"Then all I can say is good luck." X nodded for a moment, then extended his hand out. Cain gave it a firm shake. X warped out from the MHHQ…

Gone on one final mission. 

Doctor Cain took a moment to note the time.

Eight o' Clock P.M, December 31st, 2118.

"And come back alive…"


	15. All Explosions on the Northern Front

**__**

MEGA MAN X: ISLAND OF AWAKENING

By Erico

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: ALL EXPLOSIONS ON THE NORTHERN FRONT

**"YOU GODFORSAKEN EXCUSE OF A SHORTSIGHTED OAF, I OUGHTA RIP OUT YOUR CONTROL CHIP AND TURN YOU INTO A ROBOT!!!"**

Violen covered his face with his arms as Serges exploded, pummeling the larger Maverick into submission. And Violen, even with his larger size, could turn into little more than a puppy at times.

Whimpering, he cowed under the smaller Maverick's angered beating, even though his strength could have allowed him to hurl Serges across the room and flatten him into a grease spot if he so chose.

Of course, Violen knew why Serges was so confoundedly upset, he wasn't THAT dense. By some stroke of luck or fate, that reploid doctor on the tread base had managed to peg him with a shot that did no critical damage…but plenty of tactical.

The reploid doctor had managed to shoot off the tiny power node that supplied energy to the anti-tracking device of Violen's entry and escape system into the Maverick Hunter Headquarters. Zero was once more in Maverick hands, but it had come at a cost that Serges with all his intricate planning had hoped to avoid.

The Maverick Hunters had been able to track Violen's warp signature…

They knew where Ice Fortress was.

Which meant that without a shadow of a doubt, a certain Maverick Hunter with blue, white and red armor they had come to hate would come knocking at their front door, X-Buster primed and ready to vaporize everything in his path.

"QUIT IT." Agile finally spat out, grabbing onto Serges and pulling him back by both arms.

The wild eyed, stovepipe hat wearing blue and red Maverick huffed and puffed, and struggled in Agile's firm grasp for a few moments longer before he calmed himself down enough so that his red optics stopped glowing in the dim light.

"What's done is done." Agile muttered tersely. "We can't change that now. We can only move on and do our best to stop him." Serges sighed.

"I suppose. But X is going to be here any minute now, and when that happens, he'll be going gung-ho." The Maverick shook his head in disbelief. "The only good thing about all this is that he has to run the entire gauntlet of our Fortress before reaching the center nexus…where we stand."

"Very well. Violen, you will go and guard the first ring. Serges, you will proceed to the end of the second ring and confront him over the spike pit. I will wait for him at the end of the third ring." Agile's voice was calm, but it held a firm steely edge underneath.

"Hey, I'm the brains of this outfit." Serges muttered. "You still leave the Fourth and Final Ring unguarded!!" Agile shook his head and pointed to the motionless form of Zero. Serges blinked in understanding.

"Oh…right…" He turned to Agile again. "But it'll take me a while to get him started up and turned Maverick. I'm going to have to pull every major bit of override engineering I know to make him fight X…You have to guard the Second Ring, Agile." 

The lanky purple Maverick smiled calmly for a moment.

"No." Serges whipped his head back up away from Zero.

"Excuse me?!"

"I. Said. No." Agile repeated, as if speaking to a child. "I will see to the Resurrection." 

The air hung heavy in the Ice Fortress's main command chamber for several seconds, but Serges finally stood up to his full height and glared up into Agile's equally mocking red optics.

"You don't have the capabilities to bring him to our side. You just don't. So quit with the damn ego trip and get to your station." Agile regarded Serges' question for a moment, then shook his head, his smile fading into a flat emotionless stare.

The Maverick doctor had had enough. Priming his Blitzkrieg Buster, he leapt towards his saucy companion with a burst of primal speed and rage.

But Agile moved with a far greater tempo…he turned into little more than a blur in Serge's eyes.

Grunting in pain, Serges was sent skidding along the floor until he slammed headfirst into the wall. A red colored beam saber jammed itself underneath his throat a mere microcycle later.

"You will obey my command." Agile breathed, his voice distorted and quavering.

The inhuman effect, for lack of a better term, frightened Serges worse than staring down X's Buster had. And something deep within his stomach told him that this was one time he needed to swallow his pride and step in line.

Agile pulled his saber back and allowed Serges to clamber to his feet. Shifting his Buster into its inert deactivated state, the doctor shuddered. 

There was a foul wind blowing.

"Then we'll be off." Serges said tonelessly, seeing himself at an angle from above, like he was nothing more than a ghost trapped inside a shell.

Violen had long since composed himself, but Serges had no doubt his anger from this would end up bubbling to the surface sooner or later. That rage might help the apelike, or some said piglike, Maverick to fight X.

And finally, only Agile and the crumpled, motionless, but intact form of Zero remained in the central command post.

Until the main viewscreen flickered to life and a green wire frame head made its presence known. Agile didn't even bother to turn around, he could feel the presence approaching.

"This is indeed going worse than hoped, Sigma." Agile said in a muted tone.

"Oh, please." Came the sadistic and slightly raspy voice of the greatest Maverick. "Where's that confidence I imbued to you?" Agile couldn't help but smile at that.

"Oh…it's still around. Didn't you see what I did to Serges there?" The computer generated voice harrumphed for a minute.

"Don't expect a trick like that to work on X. Don't underestimate him in the slightest, EVER."

"I'll keep that in mind." Agile said drily. He turned about and looked at Zero. "Serges was going to turn him Maverick by using a huge ass override program that would neutralize his former memories."

"The good doctor Serges knows his abilities." Sigma announced mockingly. "But I can do a far better job of turning him to our side."

"Like you did with me?" Agile asked.

"Like I did with you." Sigma responded. His grim wire frame face curled its lips up in a sinister smile.

"I'll just enjoy doing it to him more."

The Mavericks had called this place Ice Fortress. But to X, it had no name. It was merely their last stronghold, one that had evaded detection and would have continued to do so, were it not for the strange series of events that played out because the cumbersome Violen wanted to reclaim Zero.

That pissed him off. And like it had been proven time and time again. . .

When he got pissed, shit got blown up. He took a look at his surroundings. Apparently, his warp signal had dropped him off inside the exterior ring of the base. X hadn't expected much more than that. He'd fully expected having his signal being warped back to the MHHQ, the infiltration attempt averted. 

That was not the case. However, he was far from a welcome presence. His path would take him down, down to a nexus of lower levels. Batton Bones stood in his path.

Gritting his teeth, X readied his Buster. 

_No voice in my head. No Zero to help me. Like Rufus from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure…"You're on your own, kid."_

And so he was. But then, had that been Zero's purpose all along, acting as that voice in his head??

To prepare him for such an occurrence where it would only be X who would stand in the face of impossible odds? It made sense.

The Batton Bones activated, flying straight towards him. X bared half his mouth of teeth in an angry sneer.

"Stupid sentry robots. . ." He lifted his Buster and released a Level Three shot, incinerating two directly and causing a third to plummet to its demise. His ears could pick up more fluttering metallic wings inbound, even as they finished ringing from the always loud discharge of a plasma supershot.

More on the way.

"You bastards took Zero." X choked out angrily, his Buster whining as it charged up again. He dashed towards the first giant leap below. Lifting his Buster high, he screamed and fired.

"AND YOU'RE ALL GONNA PAAAAY!!!!"

Violen had arrived at the entrance to the Second Ring. It hadn't taken him long, the inner systems allowed short warps from point to point. Growling, he paced about anxiously in the battle lair.

It made no sense to him. If they truly did want to stop X, they'd all mass together as one and take him on. Sure, they'd all suffer wounds, but X would be dead, dead because it was three against one, and no matter how feral his rage, the Hunter wouldn't stand a chance. That would be how he would have handled it.

But here he was, just one Maverick against a Hunter who had once taken him to the brink of death and left him there, humiliated. It still brought fresh anger to his face. Clenching his fist up, he felt newborn energy seeping through him.

It was the rage of a Maverick, and it made Violen feel strong.

And it was Agile…Not Serges, the smart one, but AGILE…who was now flinging orders around. And everyone obeyed, because for the first time ever, Agile frightened them. Something had happened in the final few days of December, something that had changed Agile completely. No longer the cocky hothead, not even the cowed survivor, he was now a full bore Maverick that stood head and toes above his fellows.

Violen almost tapped in his comm and called Serges, who was more than likely sitting vigilantly in his superpowerful warmachine at the end of the Second Ring. He stopped himself before his large index finger reached the switch.

"No." He breathed. He lowered his arm back down. No, Serges would know soon enough if he failed here.

It was an interesting paradox, Violen thought. Here he waited, waited for Mega Man X to arrive for a final battle. One of them would die here in this room.

Waiting to be destroyed, yet hoping that he would win.

Did every Maverick feel like this in the end, when X came knocking??

Or was Violen just so different?

One Maverick amongst few, Violen had his doubts.

And somberly, he admitted in simpler words, he had his mortality.

Oh, these Mavericks…

X had to give them credit. Putting in pits that fell to God knows where and God knows what, and then having an automatic pincer arm that was motion sensitive to grab whatever came by and toss it in said holes. It could have worked.

Were it not for X's uncanny ability to dispense with the formalities, charge up a Spin Wheel and slice the thing to ribbons. 

"Screw you." He muttered under his breath, marching on. He decided to keep another Spin Wheel charging up…just in case.

He finally reached the end of the smaller corridor and looked down. Obviously, that ladder lead to the same place as those pits a distance back.

Shaking his head firmly, he looked up. 

Oh, he recognized this encounter.

There floated a sentry robot, with long spindly claw arms, conveniently placed at the very center high up between the walls. Walls that X recognized as the same design he'd had trouble climbing to avoid certain crushing death back on the night of December 19th. The night Gearloose died. That little shit robot would pull the walls together, and X would be dead.

That was, if things were going in the favor of the Mavericks, which they weren't. X didn't even bother jumping up and triggering the robot's attack mechanism. He merely raised his arm and fired off the next charged up Spin Wheel. Covering his face from the subsequent rain of debris, he finally began his climb.

_No one is getting the better of me…_

I am a Maverick Hunter…

More enemies. More vertical passageways. For X, it was all a blur. He moved on rage, he moved on calm thought combined with that rage.

And he fought. No Scor'bot, no wall grasper, no Batton Bone was free of his wrath.

And at long last, he reached the end of the First Ring…a rotating door to beyond.

Chest heaving in barely contained rage, X stepped through and proceeded through the narrow corridor to the other side. A large cubic room, similar in design to every other he had fought in before fell before his eyes.

And at the other end of it stood a familiar figure, eyes boring into X with contempt, amusement, and a twinge of fear and blind hatred. 

X lifted his buster.

"VIOLENN!!!!" He screamed. The Maverick stared right back at him.

"X." The enemy hissed. "Come to kill us all."

"You kidnapped Zero…" X began, his voice quivering in rage. "YOU KIDNAPPED ZERO, YOU BASTARD!!!" Violen grinned a toothy grin.

"Why, so I did…and how's that doctor of yours? Still alive, after that beating I gave him? Perhaps I should go back and end his life after I'm finished with you." Violen was goading X.

Was it the smartest thing to do? Perhaps not.

But he did it anyhow, without reservation.

X screamed and charged, his dash thrusters howling in rage.

"The killing time." Violen breathed for a moment, then hopped up into the air and snapped his fingers.

His command recognized, the room suddenly had the appearance of a set of metallic blocks that flashed out of nowhere.

But X was running on more than blind rage. All the experience that he had gained from his trials on Cornus lit in his mind…

_Strike and flee, and you're close to me…_

Violen hurled his mace about, this time causing the chain to stretch out more as it bounced in a strange diagonal fashion all about the room. X deftly dodged the deadly chunk of metal and hurled two arm's worth of plasma energy into Violen's side. The immobile Maverick screamed in protest and shifted about, launching a series of energy blasts at his foe.

Also to no avail…

_He cannot hit what does not want to be hit…_

Somehow, X found himself activating his Spin Wheel and charging it up. Violen began his wild mace again, hoping to land a blow. This time, it grazed the side of X's helmet and sparking for a moment before skidding on. The Hunter screamed long and loud…and fired.

The Spin Wheel's shrapnel burst slammed out at the Maverick. A few sliced clean through his burly arms and his massive feet…but the true damage came as two lucky blasts severed the neuroresponsive mace from Violen's back.

Stumbling forward from the edge of the newly formed block and collapsing to the ground in shock, the Maverick watched in horror as a possessed X dashed through the air and grabbed ahold of what had once been his proud tail.

_And if nothing else works…use their weapons against them._

Weakened, off balance and bleeding, the gasping Violen could do little as X slammed the mace into him…time and time again, each blow worse than the last, tearing out vitals, smashing armor to uselessness and pocking every inch of his body with gashes.

"IT WAS YOU, DAMNIT!! YOU AND YOUR TWO FRIENDS!!"

"Stop, please!" Violen whimpered, covering his face with his hands. He screamed a moment later as they were bashed into uselessness, limp and unresponsive, lumps of broken metal on the ends of his arms. The mace caught him in the side and slammed him across the room again, and his limp arms collapsed.

"FOR GEARLOOSE, FOR CANCER, FOR JIM DACKER…FOR EVERY INNOCENT YOU'VE DESTROYED IN YOUR QUEST!!" 

_Rage can blind one…but it can instill fear in enemies._

Violen was afraid…Whimpering, he could only shudder and scream at the impacts.

X fought like a demon with the severed weapon of his foe, at times whipping it above his head, at times swinging it about in front of him. The sheer weight of the object didn't strain him in the least, and he swung it horizontally and vertically alike, every strike landing another crippling and devastating blow.

The final strike came…once more slamming into Violen's now battered and exposed midsection, he was hurled across the room one final time.

Finally, the torture stopped and Violen slumped weakly against a wall of the room. His only functional optic blurred as he watched the bluish blob draw closer and closer.

"Impossible…" Violen wheezed, suddenly realizing in his death how every one of his victims felt. "How could he have…overloaded my circuits…"

For Violen, there would be no mercy. Not this time. And Violen thought…

Yes, he had been a coldblooded killer. He'd also been amiable at times, and downright cooperative…so where did it all add up? To which side of the scale did he fall? Violen's remaining eye flickered out of existence, as did the rest of his sensory nets. Now he lived in silence…And afraid…Violen waited to die.

X let the mace fall to the floor with a loud thud. His eyes cold and hard, he lifted both arms and charged them to full power.

"Zero is avenged." He whispered angrily. 

The noise of the two supershots, and Violen's subsequent atomizing and microfusion tank overload was loud enough to echo throughout the entire Ice Fortress. But the close circuit cameras told the true story. In the Second Ring, at the very end of the route and atop a bed of spikes, the Maverick X-Hunter known as Serges quaked in fear. 

X had torn Violen apart without a qualm…without fear, with only rage. Screaming…Screaming rage.

Shuddering, Serges shut off the TV feed and buried his face in his hands.

"Oh my God…" He whispered, almost breaking down into tears. If such a God existed, Serges now feared him. More appropriately, he feared X.

And X stepped through the passageway to the Second Ring.

_And another thing…keep moving._

_"That is the power of Mega Man X." _Rasped Sigma, his wire frame head floating about the gigantic viewscreen. Agile shook his head.

"Once you get him riled up, it seems that defeat is a given." Sigma harrumphed.

_"ALMOST a given, Agile. I have lost to him once before…but not this time. There is one weapon we have in our possession that will drain every last bit of his rage from him." _Agile couldn't help but grin, exposing his teeth.

"Zero, yes." He rubbed his hands together. "If that lumbering childminded Violen did anything right, he retrieved Zero for us."

_"At a grievous cost." _Sigma mused. _"I would have hoped to keep Ice Fortress hidden for a while longer at least."_ Agile shrugged and shook his head.

"The chips will fall as they do. For now, though, what we should focus on is the present, not the past."

_"Those who do not learn from the past's mistakes are doomed to repeat them." _Sigma quoted sagely. 

The X-Hunter rolled his eyes. 

"I'm going to head down to the end of the Third Ring. You can keep an eye on Zero, right?"

_"Go." _The reborn leader of the Mavericks muttered calmly. Agile bowed for a moment, then trotted off.

It took him only a moment to reach the warp capsule, step inside, and blink to the beginning of the Fourth Ring. He looked about for a moment, blinked a few times, and turned about to face his warp capsule again.

"Hmm…" He mused calmly. He looked at the other warp capsule across the climbing gap below.

The opposing warp capsule led to the 'gauntlet,' the final security measure against Mega Man X. But if X took the warp capsule Agile had just left from, he would move straight past the gauntlet and on to the end of the Ice Fortress…where Sigma and Zero lay in wait.

"I'm not going to give him that opportunity." Agile growled, pulling out his saber and igniting it. With a quick two step slash, he turned the working warp capsule into a nonfunctional and very much obliterated piece of machinery.

Now X would have no choice but to use the warp capsule that led to the gauntlet.

Grinning with his teeth exposed, the X-Hunter slid down to the bottom of the shaft…the very beginning of the Fourth Ring. 

For a moment, Agile wondered if he should have just readied a remote charge to the thing and not destroyed it right away.

Then he realized that it couldn't have mattered.

He wasn't coming back.

X found that the Second Ring of the Maverick Fortress was more along the lines of a sewer system. At least, from the amount of abandoned coolant, irradiated water and small debris, it'd seem to be the Maverick's sewer system. 

Maybe a week ago, coming here would have caused him to cringe in disdain, squirming in the Maverick cesspool.

But like on the night of June 19th, X was now, on December 31st, completely oblivious to it. He knew rage, he knew focus. He didn't know shame or disgust.

Quickly, he air-dashed through the water, clinging to the side of a hoverplatform sliding back and forth in an easy motion. X grimaced against the current, and reasoned that all these hoverplatforms served a twofold role; an excellent deterrent, and they helped to control the flow of waste seaward.

Then again, if there was more of a deterrent than the hoverplatforms, it was the artificial spike beds beneath them, threatening to rip X into shreds with nary a qualm. But X wasn't about to let that happen.

He jumped up into an overhead 'compartment' bay, a sort of hole in the ceiling that was barely large enough to fit him. Grasping to the wall with all his might, he jammed his wristclaws, the tiny climbing grippers Light had given him at birth into the metal, ignoring the warnings his system sent him about the structural integrity of the thin sawtooths.

"Override, damnit." He muttered to himself. No one else could have heard him even if they'd wanted…He was underwater. The claws drained some weapons power from his systems to strengthen themselves, and the warnings ceased.

Amazingly, every single one of his Sub-Tanks remained intact; he had yet to drain one. His Secondary Weapons systems however, had taken a bit of a dent; The one he'd used the most, the Spin Wheel, would need a recharge soon, as it only had about three more charged blasts left to its name.

X watched as the hoverplatform below slid back beneath him, granting him passage further through the somewhat murky corridor of liquids and pseudo-solids. Blinking once, he disengaged his wall claws and dropped down, springing off the side of the hoverplatform and onwards to safety.

Another Air-Dash and he'd reached the end of the horizontal drainage tunnel.

Eyes glowing hotly, he stared up skyward.

"Great, more hoverplatforms."

At least this time, he wouldn't have to deal with water.

While Agile made his way to the end of the Third Ring, Sigma had his own agenda to keep.

The wire frame head stared out blankly, because it had nowhere to look. Merely a visual representation of Sigma's bald mug, it was made to identify, and to impose. Not to interact.

But the mouth moved in perfect accordance with his speech.

"So then, Zero…" The greatest Maverick mumbled gruffly. "The time is at hand…the time of the unification." No, Sigma corrected himself, the unification of Zero was over and done with. "Perhaps to be more accurate I should say it is time for your rebirth."

Yes, that made more sense. For that was exactly what would happen in the next five minutes…Zero would switch sides, no longer Maverick Hunter, but Maverick.

There was a large part of Sigma that couldn't help but curl his lip into a sneer that almost smiled. He had fought Zero, a long time ago…

Long before they knew he was Zero, when he was nothing but a 'Crazy Red Maverick' that wiped out Garma's Hunter Unit in the Southwestern deserts of the United States. The fight had been brutal and intense…Sigma lost an arm, yet kept the scars from that battle. A momento, perhaps?? Everything from before the First Uprising slipped into the hazy fog of his rage…It took all of Sigma's willpower to sustain what little pre-Uprising memories he had.

But the fact remained that before Zero was Maverick Hunter, he was Maverick. A Maverick more powerful than any other, who had forced Sigma to the brink of death using only his body and those cold eyes…

A part of Sigma wanted to shudder, for back during that fight, the fight Sigma remembered ever so clearly, there had been a glint in Zero's eye…

A glint of madness??

Or a glint of a power so great it conquered the supposed 'most advanced' reploid in existence…

But, Sigma continued, dropping out of his memory loop, it was fitting that Zero should return to that state of madness, only now under Sigma's control.

"Prepare yourself, Zero…" Sigma's raspy computer generated voice uttered in obvious satisfaction. "Now is the time for your eyes to be opened!!"

The room fell into darkness, and latching onto Zero via a data transfer cable, Sigma forced his way into the body of the Crimson Hunter.

Five seconds later, he returned from the still motionless body, screaming in agony. The wire frame head on the screen flickered as Sigma's control began to slip away…

And Zero slept on, unharmed, unchanged by the sudden intrusion of the malevolent core program of Sigma. 

It took Sigma's program another ten seconds to stop the glitches and quirks in its routines and subroutines. 

"Impossible…" Sigma wheezed. When he had gone into Zero, he had invaded Zero's mind…

Hoping to subtly alter Zero's memory files and thus make him think that the Maverick Hunters were his enemies…Sigma had failed completely as Zero's memory overwhelmed him.

So much of it was a blur, compressed in such a fashion that it was unreachable in the waking world.

But Sigma…Sigma, who had invaded Zero's mind in the realm of stasis, had seen many things…

Many horrible, horrible things…

"It can't…be…" Sigma gasped, shaking his head in disbelief.

But it was…beyond all refutation, Sigma had seen a truth, a truth he scarcely could believe.

"Zero is…" His voice trailed off as the images from Zero's memory filled his mind.

_Ancient computers…_

A hidden fortress…

Shattered, obliterated robots…hundreds of them…

Blood on his hands…

And insane even after death…

Zero's…father…

"The cosmic tumblers will fall into place, and the Universe will open itself to you…" Sigma rasped, shaking his head.

It was no wonder that Sigma's attempt had failed in altering Zero.

There was nothing more horrifying Sigma could add, nothing he could take away.

Zero's interior was alien to Sigma…unlike any reploid's…

Zero could not be changed by Sigma, in any way, shape, or form. 

His past now known by the dark Maverick Leader, Zero's path was revealed.

"As it should be…" Sigma mused in disbelief. "All this time…you should have been fighting with us, and not X…"

"You should have been destroying X…"

Sigma shook his head. Now was not the time for this, though…

Later, there would be time to ponder. 

Now, there was a certain Blue Bomber making his way through Ice Fortress with unstoppable precision, and Sigma did not have enough time to alter Zero.

It would take a more blunt approach to turn Zero Maverick…this time…

Sigma's wire frame head blinked out as his core program at last left the main computer of Ice Fortress.

A hidden niche in the wall, built in by robots controlled by Sigma himself, concealed a body also designed under the exacting scrutiny of the Maverick Leader.

Its eyes opened slowly, the core program fully downloaded into the body, but not used to being in a body.

Finally, it stumbled forth, more imposing than ever.

Sigma, now once more with physical form, picked up the still sleeping Zero. Cradling the anathema to Mega Man X close, Sigma activated his Warp Generator and set his coordinates.

There was one place he needed to reach…

And considering the time factor, it seemed very certain that the GDC would have minimal resistance up.

Thoughts of doubt and disbelief still rattling in his skull, Sigma vanished into the night sky, Zero clutched at his side.

Two beams of warped light, soaring off to regions unknown…

But not untraveled.

X was moving fast now…he had found a weapons recharge, bringing his Spin Wheel not quite to full energy, but enough he would have it in a dire emergency. 

The resistance along this route was surprisingly weak…X surmised that the Mavericks hadn't expected him to take the underpassages. Which was exactly what he planned for, avoiding the main entry and passageways of the Second Ring entirely. It may have taken him a tad longer, and it wasn't as direct; but the amount of peril he could have been in was considerably less.

Blasting his way through a final green 'Mech, the same kind that had been aboard the Dino Tank and in the Maverick's Red Herring Desert Base before that, X dropped down in front of the door and harrumphed in dismay.

He'd seen the opposing route, apparently the main passage would have required an incredibly well timed Air-Dash and charged up Speed Burner…even then, it wasn't certain if he could have made it or not. 

He pushed through the rotating gate, entering into the all too familiar long hallway. If anything, the Mavericks were predictable as of late. And beyond this door would be the customary guardian. The last one had been Violen…for a moment, X wondered if there would be a Fortress Guardian like there'd been in the days of Sigma and the First Uprising, like that Bospider, or the Rangda Bangda, or maybe the D-Rex. 

But this Maverick Fortress was still in development, showing its missing armor, its chinks and dents. More than likely, it wasn't a fully constructed warrior guardian.

By all evidence, it would be another one of those damnable X-Hunters who had tried to destroy him in the game for Zero's parts.

The room beyond the rotating doors was far different than any other battleground X had fought in.

Never before had he ever had to worry about a thick layer of electrified spikes that brought instant death.

_Stay calm and just DO IT. Fear can get you killed faster than the enemy._

And so X walked on, jumping onto the conveniently placed rows of hoverplatforms.

"Oh, this fight's gonna be different." X muttered darkly. Sure enough, there was a heavily armored tank heading straight towards him. Four large gunports loomed into view, each looking large enough to disintegrate X in a single blast if they managed.

It moved over the spikes without so much as a squeak of dismay. 

And finally, a voice from inside spoke up.

"You Godforsaken murderer." Came the hollow voice of Serges. X perked up an eyebrow and switched back over to his main plasma weapon, staring dully at the massive weapon of war as it rolled to a halt in front of him.

"Serges, eh?" X muttered aloud. "I see you managed to make it back alive. And that little deception you pulled on me back in Flame Stag's volcano base was a flop."

"We've both suffered our wounds in this game, X." Came Serges' voice, more reassured and confident…and angry. "But the way you disposed of Violen…that was more than just doing your job. You enjoyed tearing him apart, turning him into a battered wreck before blowing him to kingdom come!!"

"You Mavericks are no different." X offered tersely.

"So you're like us then."

"I'm not like you." X muttered. "You kill innocents, and I kill you. The difference is you choose to be a danger. I'm just the Retribution."

"And just what kind of bullcrap are you muttering nowadays?!" Serges howled. "Retribution, what the devil do you get that from?!"

"During the First Uprising, I was granted a suit of Armor. I affectionately call it Paladin. My second set, the one I wear now as I face you, is more."

"It's murder."

"It's Retribution." X growled. Serges choked back an angry curse and pounded his fist onto the firing mechanism.

A bolt of sizzling, super-electrified plasma energy slammed out of a center gun turret, almost colliding into X before he weaved aside from the burst.

"You want Retribution?!" Serges screamed. "YOU GOT IT!!!" X lifted his Buster and fired, bringing up his other arm for the second blast.

It melted the armor of the gun turrets a bit…but not enough in the least.

Serges was howling from within his mechanized monstrosity, firing off shots left and right in X's direction. Only by ample use of his Air-Dash and the flat hoverplatforms scrolling up and down above the spike bed did X manage to avoid serious damage.

Wincing as another burst flew past him and singed his arm, X clenched a fist up.

"Oh, this is just so over…" He spat.

_If your rate of attack is too slow…turn it up a notch._

X drew his arms in and leapt into the air slightly. A locus of plasma energy appeared about him, appearing to be collecting and dimming the room into darkness…

Screaming in rage, X exploded with all the fury of his G-Crush. The unstoppable wave of supercharged plasma streaked out in all directions, a wave of Hellbent fury that was at the core of his powers, the very ability that Zero's spirit had named his suit after…

Retribution. Quick, overwhelming, unstoppable Retribution.

The gun turrets overloaded and exploded as the wave baked it into atoms, tearing the entire front end of Serges' massive wartank into shreds. 

Screaming in dismay, the Maverick inside was at last revealed.

X hopped back as the wartank crept forth, just before its propulsion systems gave out, battered by the same G-Crush that had devastated its attack potential. It crunched to a halt, laying motionless but far from defenseless. Two of the flat hoverplatforms had been destroyed in its inexorable forward charge. Now X had only two left to stand on.

Serges was in a control pod that lay attached to a chain rack, giving it the ability to move up and down smoothly and at great speed.

His red eyes burning with al the fury of a true foe, Serges punched his fire button.

Now that the blasts lacked the focusing potential of the gun turrets, the ball shaped plasma charges went out a fair distance before pausing, and then exploding into a batch of four smaller bursts. These, X found, he could dodge, but not without deep concentration.

_If your foe is using both hands to attack you…then tie his hands._

X's armor shifted and glimmered in the dimly lit battle room, finally resting on a red and green color that utterly contrasted with his armor.

To test his power, X fired off a burst of normal plasma from one arm. Sure enough as he'd predicted, Serges' pod moved down in a burst of speed to avoid being struck.

X took his chance and fired his other arm, but this time it was not plasma that escaped his Buster's exit port.

A synthesized mass of metallic shrapnel, wires and gunk was thrown out in a lazy arc. Serges saw it coming…But as his eyes widened, the Maverick realized he could do nothing to stop it.

The Silk Shot exploded all over him, entangling him in a web his valiant struggles proved unable to defeat. Screaming, Serges glared at X.

"What the Hell is this?!" X hopped to the closest hoverplatform by the wartank.

He charged up his Strike Chain and fired. The electrified claw slammed into Serges' immobile frame, digging into his armor and releasing a powerful electrical charge. Serges screamed and threw his head back…His stovepipe hat fell to the spike bed, abandoned for all time.

The charge at last finished scouring throughout Serges' body, and his spasms slowed to nothing. But the dull look in X's eyes suddenly shocked him worse than the Strike Chain ever could. 

X still had that long chain attached to Serges.

"You wouldn't…" Serges gaped. X looked at his mortal foe with a gaze of distanced rage. "Impossible…the prophecy must be fulfilled…" Serges began to mutter, his mind racing as death crept upon him.

"Say hi to Violen for me." X growled under his breath.

Serges had no time to scream as X yanked the Strike Chain with all his might and swung Serges down in a vicious half moon arc.

The Strike Chain pulled back automatically…

Less than a second later, X turned about and steeled himself against the jarring impact of a body onto the spike bed…and the following deadly electrocution that offered no cries, no final chance for mercy…just a cruel and sudden death. The Blue Bomber of 21XX ignored the acrid stench of melting synthflesh and armor and looked for his next objective. He did not even turn around to see what sordid condition the corpse of Serges, the X-Hunter was in.

"Two down." X said calmly, hopping up onto the now harmless wartank and reaching for a hatchway in the ceiling that led to the Third Ring. "To use a cliché, one to go."

_And never lose your focus._

The first batch of GDC operatives had arrived on Cornus Island as soon as they'd heard Mega Man X had left to put a stop to the final Maverick. The reasoning was right enough; by the time they got there, X would have put a stop to the final threat and would have finally freed the island from Maverick hands.

Naturally, the first place they went to was the very heart of Cornus, the Central Computer complex. Comms active with a continual line to the GDC Cornus Special Council, the well trained warriors and techs maneuvered about through the now abandoned hallways.

One trooper, carrying a heavyset magpistol at his side and a low powered plasma blaster in his hands, whistled appreciatively at the utter destruction laid before him.

"Bleeding Christ." Came the stunned voice finally. A group followed up behind him, also staring at the strewn wreckage of mangled robots and self-defense mechanisms that had been turned against the Blue Bomber of 21XX. Thankfully, the hallway lights were all on. Otherwise, they would have had to move slower and use their helmet lights. Not a particularly fun option, they considered.

What egged them on worse than anything was that they weren't able to go celebrate New Year's. Christmas was, as its name implied, more of a Christian Holiday that nonetheless let everyone out of work. But New Year's was not nearly so religious, and more of an overall celebration for all creeds and races. 

Which made it particularly aggravating for this group of humans that they wouldn't be able to partake of the festivities and all night drinking.

"Take it easy, Darryl." Came the a chiding voice from the pack behind the lead trooper. "What did you expect to see, boquets of roses? This was a warzone." Darryl shook his head and walked on, the pack behind him following cautiously as well.

"It's just a shock, Commander Taggart." Darryl muttered. "I mean…all this, done by one reploid??"

"He isn't a reploid, Private." Came the firm voice of Commander Taggart, his plainly American accent lilting on correction and firmness, reminding his trooper that there was some semblance of protocol to be held. "Mega Man X was the prototype for reploids. Their father."

"Still, that doesn't negate the fact that he can do this much…" Darryl replied back, keeping his blaster in the low ready position as he swiveled about a corner.

Another troop, a woman by the name of Clarisse spoke up.

"Oh, come off it, Dar. He's a MEGA MAN. I wasn't even born when he was traipsing about, but I do remember all the times in history the original Blue Bomber went in and faced impossible odds, leaving a trail of wreckage behind him as he continually stopped Doctor Wily from setting the world on a course to destruction. Going up against the impossible and blowing shit up is what they do. It's in their blood."

"Reploids have blood??" Darryl whispered in surprise. Clarisse laughed bitterly.

"That's right…you haven't seen one bleed to death yet."

"All right, all of you quiet down here." Commander Taggart ordered firmly. "We've got a lot of work to do, and this chitchat isn't helping matters."

"Hold on a sec!" A GDC tech by the name of Timothy shouted excitedly. He jumped over to a side of the corridor and pointed at a door. "I remember that there's a secondary command post in this room." He turned back to Commander Taggart. "Hey boss, if I can get in here, I can start bringing the Central Computer complex online." The Commander nodded. Timothy beamed from ear to ear as he reached for the locks. His code didn't work. "Aww, nuts. Hey, can one of you help me with this door?"

"Sure." Came the retort of Clarisse, pulling him back towards their main pack and levelling her plasma blaster. With a quick three shot burst, she blew the door into scrap and motioned towards it with a wiseass smirk. Taggart merely clucked his tongue, obviously pleased by the display.

"Well, there's no telling how much damage those Mavericks did now, is there? They probably broke down a few doors." He winked. The rest of his intrepid team did the same, even though Timothy was still a bit shocky.

"All right then…" He muttered. "I guess I'll just…go get this place running…"

"You do that, Tim." Taggart replied. For Timothy, there was no military rank, as he was not a warrior, but merely a Tech hired by the GDC. A civilian. "In the meantime, we'll keep trucking on down the corridor. Holler at us when you're done."

The rest of the GDC task force continued to wander down the halls, leaving Timothy and his work behind them.

First things first, Timothy reminded himself. He flipped the lights on in the room, then turned to the console. Powering it up, he found it in full working order. Apparently, the Mavericks were smart enough to keep all the primary systems going.

"Terrific. Power, communications, defenses, all operational." He winced as the secondary systems began to appear in red, marked for their states of deactivation. "But the replicators and food centers are deactivated. Not to mention the toilets." He shrugged.

If one was a reploid, they really didn't need to eat…or dispose of waste like humans did. It made sense, from a crude sense of view.

"Still, it's a pain in the ass to correct." Correct it he did, though.

**Reactivate secondary systems.**

MAIN _Security code required. Enter security code._

"No sweat, bugger." Timothy muttered, typing in his all access passcode.

MAIN _Security code accepted. Secondary systems reactivated._

"Well, that was easy enough." Timothy muttered, pulling up his pocket comm.

"Commander Taggart?"

The reply came clear as a bell.

"Yeah, Tim? Got something to report?"

"Those Mavericks had shut down the secondary systems, I reactivated them."

"Anything crucial?" Came the slightly worried voice of his team leader. Tim couldn't help but wrinkle his nose as he smiled.

"Well, you'll thank me when the toilets flush."

"Roger that." Came the slightly chuckling voice of his commander. "Cristoph and the other Politicos will be happy to hear the Reclamation is proceeding as planned."

"Roger. Timothy, out." The Tech shook his head and turned back to the screen.

MAIN _There is substantial damage to the Central Computer's defensive systems._

"No kidding, bub." Game the gruffish voice of Tim. "X had to blow the shit out of them to keep himself alive."

MAIN _I am also reading an unknown presence in a side room of the Central Computer Complex. Type is reploid, deactivated._ Tim blinked in surprise.

"Eh?" His fingers went to the keyboard.

**Access video link from that room.**

MAIN _Video link accessed._

Timothy stumbled back a few steps as his face paled.

"Holy Cripes…" He muttered in disbelief. 

That thing didn't even LOOK like it had BEEN a reploid. Something very screwy had happened to it, and in the end it looked more like a massing of junk than anything that had been sentient. But the one good piece of news was that it wasn't blue.

"Well, that must be the Maverick General who was running the show here." Timothy muttered.

All this time, he hadn't noticed the all too familiar sound of a warp-in. Of course, it had been down the hall and his mind had been glued to the computer monitor.

Neither had he noticed the heavyset footsteps marching closer and closer towards him, walking down the hall, pausing in the blasted off doorway, and then walking into the room.

It was when the footsteps stopped that Timothy's danger sense kicked in. And then came the voice.

"So…It seems that not even Magna Centipede was spared from X's wrath. Pity."

Adrenaline suddenly racing through Timothy's veins, he couldn't help but shiver as the hair on his arms stood up.

Slowly, ever so slowly, he turned about and looked.

He jumped back in shock, his eyes as wide as a fish's as he gaped incredulously.

"Im…impossible…You're DEAD!!" 

Sigma's lip curled up into a sneer as he placed Zero's sleeping body on the ground.

"No. You are." With a simple charge and slash from a trio of claws that sprang from his right arm, Sigma silenced the voice of the unwitting Tech Timothy. Ignoring the splatter of wet flesh and blood onto the floor, he turned back to Zero and picked him up.

"Come on then. We need to find us someplace quiet…but first, to deal with these meddlers."

Down the hallway some distance, Commander Taggart clucked his tongue.

"We haven't heard from Tim in a while…suppose he found something new to look at?"

"I'll bet anything he's downloading the latest pics of the JuneTech UltraPC." Came the snorting voice of Darryl. 

"Or here's a thought…" Came a sudden booming and basso voice, scratchy with age and anger. "Perhaps some Maverick warped into the Central Computer base, came across his pathetic activities, and promptly turned him into chuck grade hamburger meat." The entire GDC team turned about, their weapons raised.

All of them responded in the same manner of disbelief and utter stupefication.

Sigma's grinning smile was all too wide as he charged at the group and began slashing.

The screams only lasted two seconds.

The Third Ring had appeared to be shorter at first…

That was, until X came across a multidirectional thruster platform. Similar in design to the ones he'd used in the Dino Tank days before, every time he jumped on and off of it, it switched directions. He was having a devil of a time making the thing go where he needed it to, which was up. He could have made the climb manually, but a part of X suspected it might serve a better role.

He unleashed another spread of Spin Wheel, blowing apart what little resistance was there…primarily Disk Boy 08s and Batton Bones. Minor enemies that did a lot to piss him off, but little damage. Plenty of drain on his weapons systems, though…X hated that. Every shot he used in getting to the core of this damnable Maverick Fortress couldn't be used against the final surviving X-Hunter, Agile. 

He leveled off the thruster platform at the top of the seemingly endless vertical tunnel with outjutting ledges, firing off one final burst of his Spin Wheel and blowing a trio of Batton Bones to scrap. Stepping on the switch again, he directed it to charge off down the horizontal stretch of hallway that lay before him, breathing a little easier as no new enemies came into sight.

"Guess I destroyed 'em all."

_Never assume._ Yeah, that one dated back to the late 20th Century and a fella by the name of Richard Marchinko, an ex-seal who wrote a very successful book series about his 'shooting and looting' adventures, all the while thumbing it at the bureaucratic, paper piling Uncle Sam. He was also flagrantly blunt, something that had seemed to catch on with the people of that age. _I treat everyone alike…just like shit._

"Riiight…" X muttered. How Zero had picked up on that…well, just another little detail about the friend he was trying to save.

Strangely enough, the hallway was short, and X tapped the thrusters off. He peered at his choices.

There was a route going up, and a route going down.

_I'll take the high road, and you'll take the low road, and I'll get to Scotland befoooore ye…_

"Up it is then." X said calmly, hopping from his higher perch and clinging to the ladder, deftly making his way up.

He blew away the shield of a Disk Boy 08 standing atop a ledge as he got to his feet in the new level, then sent it sprawling backwards with a flurry of lesser charged shots. What should have merely stunned him seemed to do more as the sentry exploded.

X frowned for a moment and climbed up, turning about and snatching an internal operations energy capsule left lying clear as day before looking to the Disk Boy's fate.

His face visibly blanched as he stared down at the strewn wreckage, lying shattered and shaped and sliced.

"Oh, great. Spikes." Shaking his head in a manner that would have done Indiana Jones proud, he grumbled on. "I HATE spikes." As if he hadn't seen enough at the end of the Second Ring.

Salvation came in the form of a fluttering Batton Bone, its tiny exhaust pipe spouting a hazy cloud of particles into the air.

X had a theory, a technique he'd used once before. Activating his Secondary Weapons grid, he brought up the Crystal Hunter and fired.

The glob of semisolid goo fluttered on through the air in a lazy arc before striking the Batton Bone. As it registered a hit, the semi-sentient program embedded in the material brought up the next order. In less than a second, the Batton Bone was completely covered in a hexagonal grid of clear crystal, perfectly shaped with the foe perfectly trapped. 

The mix of enemy and discharged weapon collapsed onto the spike bed below with a groan. But unlike the Disk Boy 08, the crystal centerpiece held.

"Well, there's my ticket out of here." X clucked, hopping down onto the crystal and readying his air-dash…just in case. No need for it, though, the object was completely capable of supporting his weight.

He saw his opening…focusing his mind, he jumped ahead a bit and fired off his air-dash, skidding to a halt on a tiny platform that lay between his initial spike bed and a smaller one. What was imposing about the smaller spike bed was the Garakuta robot, an amalgamation of supposedly deactivated Mets of every variety plastered onto a spiked wheel that slowly crept towards X, oblivious to the danger of the spike bed it rolled over.

"Sheeze…" X muttered, leveling his Buster. "I guess I was wrong about these things just being a part of the junkyard." It took several shots, but he blew it apart and out of his way without much trouble.

He dashed on for a moment, then paused as he stood on the high ledge. On the platform below…spikes. On the wall ahead of him…spikes. On the platform below the first platform…SPIKES.

"All right children, we're going to say 'overkill'…" X growled in his lousy Mister Rogers impression. "O-V-E-R-K-I-L-L. I knew ya could…"

He brought up his helmet's scanner and brought the area ahead of him into focus. Yup, spikes, just like his eyes told him. They weren't holographic illusions. 

However, on the wall directly below him, there were no spikes. Which meant that if he could dash past the first lower platform without slamming into the wall of spikes, then drop down PAST the first platform without hitting the second, and successfully managing another air-dash to push him past the second platform…he'd be home scot free.

Shutting down his helmet's scanning equipment, X clucked his tongue.

The good Doctor Light had only installed one air-dash in his Second Suit, though. X was out of luck.

_Never give up…never surrender._

X wondered how THAT overused and trite expression had ended up in Zero's lessons. But it was right…Re-examining his circumstances, X slapped himself in the forehead.

"No crud, Clousseau." X mumbled, bringing up another Secondary Weapon that shifted his armor into a dark red coloring.

He charged it up to full power, jumped ahead a bit, and fired.

The Speed Burner's charged up power blazed around him, turning him into a flaming, hurtling missile. It provided enough power to bring him past the first spike bed. 

Righting himself and letting loose with a small, insignificant boost of thrusters, X stopped his forward momentum. Turning himself about, he gritted his teeth and gauged his fall…then fired off his sole Air-Dash.

It was enough. He slammed against the opposite wall, relieved to find, just like his helmet scanner had told him…spike free.

"I REALLY hate spikes." X whistled in relief.

He slid down the wall for a moment and paused at the mouth of a much larger drop.

Apparently, this had been the shorter of the two paths, albeit more harrowing. At the bottom of this next shaft was where the two paths met.

So he slid down the wall, his mind returning to thoughts of Zero, and the pain he'd inflict on Agile for being the Maverick he was.

All those thoughts were promptly washed away by shock as his footing gave out and he collapsed INTO the wall.

Stunned for only a moment, X brought up his helmet scanner.

This time, it was a holographic cloak. 

"Odd…" X clucked, following the hidden tunnel. Although he wasn't quite sure why it would be here, hidden tunnels usually led to things like health and weapon recharges. Mavericks were predictable in that regard.

But what he found at the end of that short, holographic cloaked tunnel was not a weapons recharge.

Standing there, mocking the world with its flashing strobe lights atop, was a bluish tinted metallic capsule that was all too familiar.

"Holy Hell…" X gaped. Slowly, he walked towards it.

As if reacting to his presence, the sides slid down to reveal the figure of Doctor Light, as ragged as he had appeared in all of the Second Set's capsules…time was not fortunate to the pragmatic Doctor Thomas Xavier Light in the least.

Pulling at his white Santa Claus beard for a few seconds, the holographic specter of the past finally spoke up.

_"X, as you may recall, in both the first time you were compelled to fight as well as now, there were four main capsules. And then there was a fifth…a special capsule. This is that fifth capsule. Designed to activate only when your body has reached its maximum potential with the upgrades already given, it finds a convenient niche in a location you are going to." _The hologram shifted as it thought for a moment, and once more X realized that it had to be scanning his thoughts in some manner to make it more personalized. _"In this case, the hidden Fortress of your enemies. The last time you approached this capsule, X, it granted you the power to form a ball of energy that would completely overload and destroy whatever it struck, as long as you were at full health." _X's heart raced at the thought of regaining his prized Hadouken fireball. Light's eyes twinkled. _"I'm sorry to say that your prized 'fireball' is not what I will grant you this time. No, I have come up with something new…something that I've managed only to design to function with your Second Armor set. The technique is too strong for any other arrangement, and even then, as it was the first go-around, you must be at full strength in order to use this move. You can call it the flaming Dragon Punch…the Shoryuken." _Light cleared his throat, then fell into another spasmodic fit of coughing. _"Christ…" _Light mumbled wearily. _"Years…how I miss them all…" _Light lifted himself back up and sighed. _"And now all I have is you…but you sleep in your capsule for years to come. When you awaken, I will be dead. And all that will remain of me is these capsules I give to you for posterity…and for not only your survival, but that of the world's. As the case has been proven twice now…your fate is intermingled with the planet you serve." _Light took in another breath. _"But I'll end on a positive note…I need something to keep me going whilst I begin my next task." _Light's face, weary and ragged as it was, brightened up in a smile. _"X…I just want you to know this. If you've come across this capsule…" _The elderly roboticist took in a deep breath…

_"WOW!!! YOU'RE SO COOL! I'M NOT WORTHY!!!" _X stumbled back a few steps in dismay. Sure, the Doctor had appeared in a karate gi in the last 'special' capsule message, but…a pure outburst?? Light laughed.

_"No, X…I'm not going senile on you. I'm as sane as I was on the day I came up with the plans for you. I just get depressed sometimes…Because I know you can never know the past I lived in…which we sacrificed for your future. But I don't want you to lose heart, X. There are challenges that yet remain ahead of you…I know this much. It was the same for your older brother. Just go on, X. You're strong, I made you strong. You have immense power, and I know in my heart you use that power for good. Mega Man X…My final creation…My son…I love you." _Light smiled at X one last time, then finished his speech, his signal fading out into static as the transmission ended. _"Just know that…I love…you…"_

X had thought himself beyond tears. To an extent, he was.

The greatest Maverick Hunter didn't break down.

But as he stepped into the capsule and received his gift, there was still a tear glistening in his eye.

The rest of the trip through the Third Ring was a blur…Batton Bones all fell to his Crystal Hunter, as well as those damnable controller insect bots that had been shipped from the Junk Yard base on Cornus. Every one a mere stepping stone to his ultimate goal, crystals laying on the long spike bed gazing up menacingly from below.

The rotating gates parted…

Another short corridor…

And X found himself in a darkened room.

It was tall, not wide…and it seemed to stretch up a fair distance. Below him, another bed of spikes.

And above, the grinning face of Agile, meshed inside another War Machine.

"Number Three." X said aloud, clenching his fist up.

There was a smirk in Agile's face…a smirk that hinted at power he had not held the last time they met.

"It's not going to go in your favor this time, Hunter." Agile cackled. "Those other two were weak…not true Mavericks…but I am!!"

"Try me." X retorted, accessing his latest weapon and priming it in his systems.

Agile let loose with a loud cackle and fired. His War Machine's sides, attached to the walls in some sort of spidery wall climbing system, dropped the two side arms down below. The spiked ends first, they would have surely damaged X.

Would have…were the greatest Maverick Hunter not surging up through the air with an even louder scream, his fist, and indeed, his entire body shimmering with an unearthly light.

The spiked drop platform broke apart under his blow, and somehow X continued up…and up…

His fist slammed into the very core of the War Machine, into the cockpit where Agile's body lay tightly harnessed. The physical blow in place, all the energy surrounding his fist and his body surged up through his hand…

Another overload, but this time dependent on direct physical contact. Somehow, though…More powerful than the mere fireball.

Agile screamed as his War Machine plummeted onto the spike bed below, overheating and exploding as it went. Unable to stop until contact with a surface, X impacted on Agile's plummeting frame barely managing to Air-Dash to a side wall and hang on, watching in grim silence as Agile was impaled upon the deadly trap.

The damage done to Agile by X's Dragon Punch was enough…but hitting the spike bed below only made matters worse.

"THIS CANNOT BE!!!" Agile screamed at the top of his lungs. Throwing his head back, he yowled his last cry.

"MASTER, AVENGE MEEEE!!!" 

And thus, with that final yawp, the last X-Hunter became little more than atomized particles as he exploded with his War Machine.

Slightly stunned by Agile's parting cry, X nonetheless moved on.

What unnerved him was not the fact he was only now able to enter the Fourth Ring, whose entrance loomed above him like a tempting beacon.

He'd destroyed all three X-Hunters…

Who in Heaven or Hell could deem to be their master…

Shutting down communications to and from Cornus was a simple matter for Sigma, who had spent his existence as little more than free-floating data for months. He knew exactly how it had transpired, but no one else could…

No one else even knew he was alive. Yet.

He did keep a direct link to the vitals of his X-Hunters, though…

"Incredible…" Sigma breathed in disbelief. Unlike Serges and Violen, Agile's vitals had dropped from perfect to nothing in a mere blink. Somewhere within his core program, Sigma couldn't help but wonder…

Had X found that hidden power…

That hidden power he had used to destroy both Vile and Velguarder in one measly blow in the First Uprising?? 

Perhaps. But X would have his hands full this time.

Sigma finished typing in the final bit of subroutine data to his override program and tapped out of the writing phase. As quick as he could, he uploaded it into Zero's main memory.

He took a deep breath…

This next part was incredibly tricky. According to Agile, who had gotten the report from Serges, Zero had been in the continual cycle of slow reactivation under the capable hands of the MHHQ's Medical Staff. 

Someone Sigma knew all too well as the gruff, alcohol swigging British-minus-the-accent reploid on Johnny Five style treads…

Hazil.

"It makes his job easier, but mine harder." Sigma breathed.

The slow restart was a measure taken when reploids who were being reactivated after death had important data and/or memories that needed to be protected. A simple quick restart effectively did a clean RAM wipe of the reploid…erasing some, if not all of the reploid's memories, attitudes and idiosyncrasies. In a fate worse than death, according to some, the reploid was turned into something he was not.

The slow restart lessened the chances of that RAM cache wipe. But it made Sigma's job tougher.

There would be parts of Zero's mind fully cognizant and aware.

In order to activate his rough override program, Zero's core memory needed to be active. It wasn't as pretty as Sigma would have liked to turn Zero to his side…but considering the mitigating circumstances about Zero's origins…

Well, there was nothing else Sigma could do.

His finger quivering over the necessary switch, Sigma dearly hoped he had written his code right.

He punched the button, at last bringing Zero from his state of deep stasis.

For a few seconds, Zero blinked in confusion…then lifted his head and looked around.

His eyes flung wide as he gaped, and finally screamed.

"SIGMA!!!" 

Thankfully, Sigma's program activated at that moment. Zero froze up, then began to fall into convulsions, screaming at the top of his lungs.

Sigma smiled darkly at those cries of pain.

"So Zero…I know that your memory is intact, at least…you remember me, and the connotations of my name…what I did. That is all well and good. My program can use that rage.

Zero could only scream and twist where he lay, unable to hear Sigma as the malevolent Maverick's override program played Hell with his mind.

"I suppose I should explain how my program works." Sigma continued, knowing full well Zero couldn't hear him, but feeling especially spunky. "Your core memories are unalterable. I cannot go into your mind and play Hell with who you are…for a reason I am only now beginning to understand. But what my program can do is simple: override. Common enough word, but what you must realize is that this program smothers more than just your memory. Your thinking, rational mind processes are also being blanketed by my program's power. The reason I activated you is that the program must first identify your functions, their locations…something I cannot do when you sleep. Serges had the same problem days ago, but unlike him, I do not have a damnable hidden escape subroutine ready to go off. A one shot deal, as they'd say??"

Zero's screams began to lessen…Sigma's smile grew broader.

"And my program works in a very direct fashion. It first immobilizes your motor controls…so that whilst it takes over your mind, you cannot strike out at anything close by. Like me. Then, it attacks your main sentience, turning you into little more than a screaming insanity case, and removing your free will and higher level thought processes as well. Like I said, they still remain…I have just found a way to mask them. Eventually, with those removed, your core memory receives a slight downgrade. In the end, after my program has worked its magic, the end result…"

Zero had finally stopped screaming, and now climbed to his feet. But the spark in his eye had vanished…Sigma smiled grimly at the 'reprogrammed' Zero.

"The end result is a warrior who will act on my command without hesitation, a warrior whose only memories is his instincts for fighting, whose only thought is whatever I tell him to do."

Zero stood there, staring blankly ahead. And Sigma at last laughed…

A laugh that carried on throughout the Central Computer base..

Through the corridors laden with the remains of robots…

And corridors laden with the bloodied and aromatic corpses of humans, ripped limb from limb…

It was a laugh of pure evil.

And evil planned to rise again.

X had found one warp capsule of the two at the top of his long climb completely destroyed, beyond all hope of repair. He'd wondered if that had led somewhere important at the time.

But it was planned, no doubt…the Mavericks had effectively forced him to take the second warp capsule.

The room he landed in was incredible…

Breathing the slightly acrid air, X had stared about, gazing in wondrous dismay at the eight warp capsules spread about the room.

The Mavericks were far from dumb…

In tribute to Wily, or at least to Wily's insane genius, the Mavericks had built a chamber with trips to every boss. In Mega's time, they had been Robot Masters.

In the time of X, these no doubt led to full blown copies of the eight Maverick Generals he'd faced.

And they had.

Strategies that had worked before still worked now…

And new ones had been developed.

Wheel Gator suffered under the power of the Strike Chain.

Overdrive Ostrich was rendered as useless as he had been in the desert artificial glass when the Crystal Hunter was brought to bear.

Crystal Snail was blown clear out of his shell under a barrage of Magnet Mines.

Flame Stag's fire was put out by a dousing of Bubble Splash.

And something odd began to happen as he blew away the final clone Maverick…

He reappeared in the center of the Fourth Ring, but there was no visible exit.

And all of the Ice Fortress was beginning to explode around him.

X drew in his breath and activated his Warp Generator.

_A trap all along…and no sign of Zero…_

But a voice over his comm circuit suddenly froze him…Raspy, malevolent, and every bit as haunting as it had ever been.

"It has been a while, Mega Man X." 

_SIGMA._

"WHAT?! SIGMA?!" Came X's sputtering reply.

_Impossible…he was blown to scrap when his Flying Fortress went down…Sigma can't be alive…_

"It seems that the X-Hunters have failed," Continued Sigma, undaunted by X's stupefied reply. "But don't worry, I have arranged for new toys for you to play with…" There was a distinct edge in Sigma's tone, as powerful as ever…pure, malignant evil.

X's comm chittered, and as he looked at it, a set of warp coordinates appeared.

His eyes darkened.

"No." Sigma cackled.

"Oh my yes…I was here, and now I'm there…and like the cat and mouse, it's time for you to take the cheese. I'll be waiting…"

The comm went dead.

X awoke from his stupor as the room's explosion began to rain debris down on top of him.

"DAMN YOU, SIGMA!!!" X screamed. 

His Warp Generator went to full power…

And he followed the trail back where Sigma was leading him.

Back to the Central Computer base…

On Cornus Island.

Satellite photos reported the explosion of the Maverick 'Ice Fortress' as being very large and hot.

There was a significant decrease in icebergs around that area days later.


	16. Where Shadows Lurk

**__**

MEGA MAN X: ISLAND OF AWAKENING

By Erico

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: WHERE SHADOWS LURK

Cristoph was livid. Perhaps that was an understatement, but it fit. He pounded his fist on the long table, staring up at the commander of the GDC hovership that had sent a team back into the Central Computer base.

"Would you mind repeating that for me, Lieutenant??" Cristoph hissed, his eyes burning into the screen. The commander, unafraid of the imposing GDC Senator looked straight back at him.

"We've lost contact with our initial team. It appears by what little data we've been able to get…the heart of Cornus Island has fallen back into Maverick hands." 

"Goddamnit…" Cristoph growled. He shut the comm off and slammed his fist on the table again.

Currently, he was the only member of the Cornus Island Task Force special council left…everyone else had gone home on hearing Mega Man X had left for the Central Computer facility.

Now it seemed their initial jubilation had been wrongly founded. Pretty much everyone was going to celebrate the coming New Year, with the misconception that the Maverick threat, the final vestiges from Sigma's rule, were coming to an end.

Cristoph turned and stared out through the glass window of the room, based in GDC Headquarters in Switzerland, the longstanding home of neutralism.

There was a light snow that fell outside…a dusting that carried the laughter and joy and hope of the people.

Cristoph's face often fell into a mask of rage, of anger and discord. Other times, he could be as friendly as your grandfather. It was the Politician's master weapon, that ability to change faces.

But now he had a very exact aura about him. 

Resigned, he tucked his arms behind his back and looked out the window, feeling himself being drawn to that cold void outside the transparent pane.

The door to the room knocked, then a GDC messenger stuck his head inside the door.

"Sir??" Cristoph did not bother turning around.

"Yes?" He asked quietly.

"The Maverick Hunters alerted us that Mega Man X was on his way to the Maverick base at the North Pole a while back."

"And?" Queried Emilius Cristoph, wondering with slight irritation when the messenger would get to the point. 

"The Fortress has just been destroyed. Our satellite reconnaissance shows a complete obliteration."

"Self-caused?"

"Either that or Mega Man X caused a massive overload." Offered the messenger. "And there's more now."

For once, Cristoph didn't reply. He merely waited.

"We also detected a pair of warp signatures leaving Ice Fortress…one long before it blew, and one only seconds before."

"And?"

"They were both headed for the Central Computer base." The messenger finally reported with slight hesitation. "The last one has been identified by the satellite's scanners as that of Mega Man X…he has a very distinct warp signal."

"Very well. You are dismissed." Cristoph replied, painstakingly slow.

The door shut…And once again, Cristoph stood alone.

_So…It appears that a Maverick managed to escape the Fortress before X could destroy it…and it is that same Maverick that no doubt caused the destruction of the infiltration team. And as I stand here…X is, if not already there, on his way to end this._

"You had better win, X." Cristoph finally muttered darkly. He looked out his window…To the quiet solitude beyond death, beyond life…to nothingness.

"For the sake of your race…

You had better win."

The passageways of the Central Computer base were just as they had been only hours before, in design, length and form.

What was new to the décor turned X's stomach, something that would have made him hurl, was he capable of such an action.

The remains of humans streaked the floor, their blood and flesh strewn in every direction.

_Don't become frightened by the ravages of war…become hardened by it._

"You're going to pay for this, Sigma…" 

Aside from the Barrier Attackers and the sensor sweeps X still remembered how to avoid, there was no opposition standing in X's way.

In a cruel sense, it was almost like Sigma was beckoning him in. It had to be a trap, but X didn't care. If Sigma was alive…then he had Zero.

And X was going to get his friend back at any cost.

And finally, X cleared the gauntlet and entered the first dividing chamber.

It took a few moments for his eyes to become accustomed to the dim light, which slowly increased as it registered his presence.

X was graced to stare at a sneer he had thought dead months ago…

His body tensed up as he glowered at his old foe, now different in design with yellow and green colored armor.

"SIGMA." The reploid who could very well be considered the son of James Cain sneered even wider as X acknowledged him. "I don't know how you survived, but you're dead."

"Oh, I don't think so…" Sigma chuckled. He looked up at X. "In a sense, it could be said…I can never die." X glared at Sigma.

"And why is that?"

"Because you are still alive as well." Sigma stepped back and dimmed the lights a little, and from the other side of the room, a new figure appeared through the exiting doorway.

"But I'll tell you something, X…I did bring you here for a reason. I shall kill you if I must, but somewhere within my spirit I have a powerful inkling it will not come to that."

"What kind of sick joke are you spewing, Maverick?!" X growled. Sigma chuckled.

"No joke, friend…Yes, we were that at one time…friends…but now that we've taken opposite sides of the struggle, it seems we'll be torn apart." Sigma sighed dramatically. "Such is the case with friendships, I suppose. How was it put in that play about the Scopes Monkey Trial? Oh yes…"Perhaps it is you who have changed…by standing still."" 

X backed up a step, charging his Buster.

"This ends now, Sigma." X howled. He raised his left arm and fired a massive blue ball of plasma energy.

But it was met in midair by a second blast from the other side of the room…the two shots cancelled each other out as they burned their energies into nothingness.

Sigma's low laugh began to permeate the room.

"Oh, I'm afraid it's not going to be so simple." The second figure, until now almost unnoticeable, stepped in front of Sigma and stood tall, its right arm shifted into a Buster that still singed with the acrid smell of ozone.

The lights in the room powered up from their dimmed state. The second figure fell into focus.

Every inch of him was completely the same as X remembered him…

The staunch stance…

The clenched fist…

The firm jaw…

And the long blond braid of hair that lay behind his helmeted head.

And everywhere the color of red…

_Oh God no, oh pleaseGodNO…_

"Look who I found wandering around, Mega Man!!" Sigma laughed darkly. "My friend here has a small problem…It seems that you let him die, and he's not too happy about that! Now I think it is time he repays the favor!!"

Zero…Undeniably Zero took a slow step forth, almost as if he was hesitating for the attack.

Sigma's laugh grew more and more subdued, until finally he lifted his arm and pointed at the bewildered Mega Man X, Buster drawn, but not prepared for combat.

"Kill him." Sigma uttered.

In a flash of light, Sigma vanished from the room.

Finally, it was just Zero and Mega Man X.

_I've found him…but God, why this?!_

"Zero…" X began, his voice slightly panicked, "Zero, can you hear me?!"

His only response was a cold, calculating smile of death and the flash of plasma.

There was no sign of recognition in Zero's eyes as both his arms lifted up and fired, one after the other. 

_Don't freeze up, MOVE IT!!!_

X barely managed to scale his wall before Zero's supershots slammed into the wall below him, dissipating on the door and melting it shut. 

But there was a third burst as well…X remembered Hazil talking about the advancement somewhat. Zero's arm went up behind his back, pulling out a yellow bladed beam saber. The beam came to life, and unwilling to remain still, flew off in the same fashion that the supershots had. It was a blast X barely avoided, but it was sobering.

_The Zero I know is gone…Sigma…Sigma's somehow TURNED ZERO MAVERICK…_

His heart fell as he stared on at his friend, roaring below in rage as his target fled from his field of fire.

There was nothing left of Zero now…nothing but a shell.

_Damn Sigma…_

DAMN SIGMA TO HELL!!!

"So be it." X said in a choked voice. His Busters began to charge with plasma energy, one arm not shifted into a Buster yet as he clung to the wall.

_If Zero is Maverick…_

Then he is my enemy. Forgive me, Zero…But as I live, I cannot allow you to bring ruin to the world. Like all Mavericks, you too must be stopped.

Zero charged over from his corner, jumping high into the air with power X did not think possible. He quickly Air-Dashed off the wall, just in time to avoid Zero's uppercut. What he was not expecting was Zero to turn around and bring his fist into the ground, popping up chunks of sharp metal from the shockwave. Wincing a bit as a shard slashed across his left arm, X righted himself about and faced Zero, and unloaded both Busters.

The double shot's fury was intense, slamming the Crimson Maverick into the wall with savage fury. But even though it was intense, Zero moved on, as if he didn't even register pain or danger. 

Righting himself up, Zero fired again. X was still recovering from his own shots, and the first blast caught him off guard, sending him sprawling to the ground and sparing him from the fury of the next supershot and saber arc.

"DAMNIT, WHAT THE HELL DID SIGMA DO TO YOU?!" X screamed, rolling away as Zero charged at him and avoided a second dose of the powerful shrapnel downblast by Zero's fist shockwave. 

Zero moved as if possessed…

As if something was controlling him, so that the pain, the frustration he might feel as a combat unit would not impune on his battle performance.

And if something WAS controlling him…

_Headshots, X. Headshots...Tie the bastard up and start wailing on him like an Irishman at the prizefight._

X switched over to his Silk Shot, realizing the charge he'd been building up had carried over. His Buster drew in the tiny shrapnel shards Zero had created and forged them together on the end of his weapon.

"Try this on for size…" X growled, jumping the first supershot and Air-Dashing over the next two blasts.

When he landed, he released his shot. And just like he'd hoped, Zero was in no position to avoid.

The mass of wires and garbage clung to Zero, wrapping about him tightly with angry fury. A simple uncharged Silk Shot might not have held, but the larger one did…

Unable to break free of his bonds, the Crimson Maverick began to scream and writhe furiously. X kicked him to the ground and leaned on top of him…

"GIVE ZERO BACK!!!"

_Just what are you trying to do, X…_

Destroy a Maverick…or save a friend…

Through his angry tears, X began to slam punch after punch into Zero's face. Ignoring the warning as his fingers began to receive minor cuts and abrasions from the assault, he pressed on, pounding away with every erg of his enraged strength.

"DAMNIT, GIVE ZERO BACK!!!"

_You can't save a Maverick…_

But Zero WASN'T Maverick…A part of X still believed that, and it was that part that he listened to. He just hoped that this strategy would work…

If there was some sort of control mechanism inside Zero's mind…the direct damage caused would hopefully short it out enough…

He hoped…

But even the strongest bonds can fail…

Enraged and screaming at the top of his lungs, the Maverick Zero snapped his arms out with a power X had not anticipated, snapping the bonds into useless scrap once more.

X's own scream became choked off as Zero's left hand went up to his throat and squeezd. His vision began to dim after a few seconds, and the warning began to flash in the corner of his eye.

Reploids didn't breathe air…but their bloodstreams carried precious energy nonetheless to their minds. With Zero's hand in a deathgrip about his neck, that bloodstream was cut off…

Zero was, for lack of a better term, choking the life out of X.

Holding his prisoner high, Zero continued, ignoring the useless struggling X put up.

For some odd reason, it never occurred to X to simply ready a Buster and fire a shot point blank at Zero…The Crimson Maverick was expecting that.

Finally, Zero threw X across the room, letting the armored warrior slam into the wall and leave a horrendous dent before slumping to the ground, his recovery slow.

The Crimson Maverick began to walk towards X, a malignant grin plastered across his face.

But halfway across the room…Zero began to slow down…

As X righted himself and realized his vision was beginning to return, he stared up at Zero as his pace was reduced to a crawl.

Somewhat surprised, the Maverick Zero lifted his right arm up and tried to fire at X while he was down.

For some odd reason, his left arm promptly slammed the arm down, blowing the plasma blast uselessly into the ground.

His face now registering shock, the Maverick Zero reached his right arm up for his saber, shifting it back into a normal hand.

But once again, his left hand sprang into action, hurling itself across Zero's chest and clutching to the right hand's wrist for dear life.

Grunting in dismay, the Maverick Zero completely ignored X now…

All of his focus was now in his hands, his warring hands…

X clambered to his feet and charged both Busters, shakily wondering what the Hell was going on.

The Maverick Zero screamed…

"NO!!!" Came the defiant cry.

X was taken aback…

And then it hit him.

_My God…Zero's battling himself…he's battling the control mechanism for his body..._

Zero's…

Waking up…

"COME ON, ZERO!!!" X urged, his strong voice echoing across the room. "You can do it…You gotta do it!!!"

The response was an unintelligible scream and Zero hurling himself against the wall.

"Fight it, Zero!!! Fight it like you told me to fight!!!"

Another scream…this time, Zero's left arm shifted into a Buster and blew his body back five feet with a powerful shot.

In the end, X could only watch in blind stupor as Zero fought.

The end came at last…Both arms shifted into Busters, and both arms pointed towards each other.

The subsequent explosion of plasma energy was both deafening and blinding…

X finally lowered his arms from his eyes a few seconds later, and blinking from the slight retinal burnout, he looked on.

"Zero…" He whispered.

The crumpled form of Zero lay on the floor, standing on one knee with an arm laid on it for support. Every inch of Zero looked damaged by the fight…loose sparks flew in every direction.

X edged closer towards the red and white colored reploid, still uneasy.

"Zero??" He whispered again, this time as a question.

The head came slowly up…

The face was weary and torn, battered by the battle.

But the eyes spoke volumes.

They blinked for a moment as they focused in on X…

The glint of intelligence shining once more in them.

"X…" Came the croaking reply. "Mega Man…X…" 

The Blue Bomber of 21XX broke out into a wide grin.

"Zero!! Zero, can you remember me?!" 

Zero tried to get up for a moment, but promptly dropped back down to his knees.

"Let me…get my bearings here…" Zero wheezed, a faint smile crossing his face. "It's not every day…an old reploid like me's brought back from the dead."

The two friends sat there for a few long moments…neither speaking, until Zero finally broke the silence.

"I'm sorry I caused you that much damage." X examined the scrapes and bruises on his arm and neck.

"I'll be all right…" Zero's face turned serious.

"That's good…because we still have to destroy all the Mavericks, including Sigma." Zero got to his feet unsteadily and stared at the floor.

"Sigma used an override program on me…allowed him to shut off my sentience protocols and turn me into a mindless killer." Zero winced as he rubbed his head. "I guess all that bitch slapping of yours did the trick…shorted out my mind enough it loosened the controls and allowed me a chance to take back my mind and body."

"The program's…"

"Deleted." Came Zero's firm answer. "But I remember another tidbit about it…" He walked towards the center of the room. "About where Sigma is." He raised his left fist, then screaming, jammed it into the floor.

This time, the explosion was far more focused, and Zero managed to blow a hole in the floor.

A gaping black void lay below. Zero staggered back up to his feet and motioned to X.

"Sigma's down that hole…His program had information about his final location." Zero shrugged. "It's up to you to stop him, X…" He looked forlornly at his own battle damaged body. "I'm in no shape to take him on." X nodded, his face also serious.

"I get it…Time for the reunion later, end the threat now." Zero nodded as well.

"If we don't put a stop to Sigma and what little resistance is in this Fortress, we'll all be in for it. I'll take out the main computer and whatever's along the way, just to make sure there won't be any data for Sigma to use against us later." X shook his head.

"The GDC's gonna have a field day…Cristoph's gonna blow a gasket."

"Cristoph who??" Zero asked, obviously puzzled. X shook his head.

"I'll tell you later." Zero clucked his tongue. 

"I'll hold you to that, Hunter." The inflection in Zero's final word was strong.

A hidden thought of understanding ran between the two friends in that room…

**_You're strong, X. Strong enough to stop Sigma and make the world safe again._**

_I'm the Hunter you always thought I could be…_

Zero rubbed his hands together.

"Now get going." He ordered firmly. "Before Sigma has a chance to escape."

X needed no further compulsion. As Zero blew out the other exit towards the main computer of the base…

X dropped down the newly created hole and into the black abyss.

It seemed to go on forever…X's internal altimeter calculated by his velocity and time he was going down at least a half of a mile.

But he finally landed, with enough of an impact his high powered shock buffers wobbled from the strain and he fell on his butt.

Stumbling back to his feet, X blinked as the lights began to come on.

He looked up, just in time to see the hole above become closed off as a ceiling slid into place.

In a far corner of the room, embedded into the wall, stood a very large processor core…

And standing at the other end of the room was a grimfaced Sigma, growling in frustration.

"No one in the GDC is aware of this chamber…it was a specialized project designed by Magna Centipede as a final resort. Unfortunately, he never had the chance to utilize it. I did, though…" The Maverick grinned. "This will serve as your grave…entombed in the very heart of Cornus Island as the base above explodes and buries you alive." X ignored the pangs of fear that tried to run through him. He cocked himself into a defensive stance and began to charge up his Busters.

"Try me, you monster."

"You are merely a bothersome insect, Mega Man X!" Sigma rasped. "It is about time that I crush you beneath my heel!" Sigma too readied himself into a stance…

His wrists sprouted long metallic claws, and he grinned at X.

"Now we'll see whose gravesite this is."

Sigma moved at a speed X didn't think was possible for the Maverick…

_Never assume, X._

Wincing as Sigma slashed at him, X somehow managed to scamper up the closest wall and avoid serious damage. 

"Wicked set of claws there, Sigma." X snarled. Sigma grinned from ear to ear as he vanished out of sight.

He reappeared just above X, piledriving him into the floor with both claws stabbed out. Puncturing the armor of X's shoulder blades, Sigma roared in intensity.

X screamed in pain and frustration, drawing in his arms and unleashing a G-Crush wave. Sigma grunted as the plasma storm threw him against the wall and ravaged at his systems.

X groggily got back up to his feet, noting grimly that the first serious exchange of blows had been delivered. 

**Substantial damage to shoulder joints. Decrease in arm mobility.**

"Great." X wheezed, noting how much more sluggish his arms moved through the dull pain. 

Sigma got back up to his feet as well, every inch of his body scathed by the G-Crush, his armor dwindled down to almost nothing. Staring through the jagged scars across his eyes, Sigma growled at X.

"Nice trick."

"Same to you." X retorted. Sigma sneered again.

"Things are different now than they were last time, X."

"Yeah, you've turned to using Maverick Hunters to do your bidding instead of that stupid dog of yours."

"Velguarder was a noble beast, X." Sigma glowered. "You will regret damaging his name."

"Just like you'll regret ever having started the Maverick Uprisings." X spat back. "Just like you'll regret all the innocent lives you've killed."

Sigma didn't reply back, and X knew why. 

Words only carried so far. Now, the bloodshed would answer their battle for supremacy.

Sigma began to shimmer with a yellow light, then drew his claws back just long enough to hurl out a blast of electrical energy in a powerful wave. Caught off guard, X received the blow at its full power and was thrown back against the wall.

"The last time we fought, it was I who lay at the mercy of ravaging electricity." Sigma cackled. "The times have changed, X."

X lifted both Busters and nodded somberly, pushing past the pain and firing a pair of blasts. Still in preparation for launching another shot, Sigma was struck with as much power as he'd given to his foe.

"And yet you're far, far weaker." X spat out. Sigma got back up to his feet and X laughed. "The last time we fought, my plasma barely put a dent in you. Now, your body's torn apart easier than ever." 

Sigma grinned back at X, malevolent as ever even through his own wounds.

"True…but what I lack in defense I more than make up for in ATTACK." Sigma drew his arms into a cross and surrounded himself with a field of electrical energy balls.

Charging up his Busters, X eyed the bursts cautiously. Sigma chuckled.

"And unlike you, X, mine are homing." X found himself dodging about as the balls of light trailed him as he danced across the room to avoid them. Thankfully, they weren't repeat homers, and only had one suicide shot to nail him.

Sigma charged towards X, both claws extended out to rip him to shreds. X narrowed his eyes and kicked his Dash thrusters on. As Sigma roared towards X, the Blue Bomber of 21XX readied himself into an almost crouching pose and dashed on.

Stunned, Sigma found his target had eluded him. X righted himself as he passed through Sigma's legs and fired again, this time having only built up a Level 4 charge…one arm at full purple power.

But it was strong enough to jar Sigma forwards into a stumble.

X's eyes were calm as his armor shifted into green again and he fired off a Spin Wheel. It danced on the floor for a few moments, then zipped off towards the stumbling Sigma.

The Maverick screamed in pain and leapt to his feet as the high tempered sawblade began to eat through his armor. Watching grimly, X switched back to his normal Buster and drained a Sub-Tank, landing at full health.

Sigma continued to scream as the Spin Wheel charged up his back.

"I guess I'll put you out of your misery then." X said tersely.

Surrounding his fist with the strange light, X screamed as he caught Sigma full on with the Dragon Punch. Both him and the Maverick at the end of his fist soared up into the air, and then the energy wave dispersed into Sigma's body.

X fell back to the ground and dashed out of the way as Sigma's overloading body began to self-destruct. He covered his eyes from the blinding explosion, then lowered his sluggish arms and winced at the message.

**Arm mobility further deteriorated. **Sure enough, they felt like lead.

X stared at the empty room, littered only with what little components of Sigma had escaped the small fireball.

Silence…

X shook his head.

"Sigma, you should have stayed dead."

He turned back around and prepared to activate his Warp Generator.

There came the audible click of a speaker system being turned on…

And then a low laugh that froze X to the floor.

_"Foool…" _Sigma rasped. _"Did you think that that was the end of me??"_ Sigma's laugh grew stronger.

X turned back around in fright…

And found himself staring at a large, wire frame head of Sigma staring down at him, laughing to no end.

"Oh my god…" X wheezed in shock.

_"It ends here, Mega Man X!!!" _Sigma screamed in jubilation. _"You don't have a ghost of a chance!!"_

The wire frame ghost vision of Sigma began to move towards X…

And the Blue Bomber of 21XX was frozen to the floor in fright.

One of the things Zero wished he'd been given during his reconstruction was a Sub-Tank.

"Because by God, I need one right about now…" He growled as his mind flashed him another warning message. 

That battle between himself and Sigma's damnable control program had been intense…even though he'd ended up deleting the sonofabitch, it had done more than its fair share of damage.

Zero blasted away another Barrier Attacker with his Triple Shot and trudged on through the corridors.

The klaxons were wailing on to no end, all the bases' defense mechanisms homed in on the Crimson Hunter in their attempt to stop him from blasting the main computer to bits…literally speaking. And X was down in that hidey hole, fighting with Sigma.

Again.

"I tell you, that boy's grown a lot since Sigma blew his way out of the MHHQ." Zero muttered softly.

**_Grown a lot indeed…He was running on rage the last time he took down a Maverick base. He was running on rage when he pulled the same stunt this go-around. His anger gave him far more power than he could ever think possible. _**

But what puzzled Zero, as he dashed away from a Drop Block and blew its crystal weapons beacon into scrap with a quick Double Shot, was who would have come out on top had Zero not regained control. The thought chilled him, and somehow excited him at the same time.

"A fight between me and X…No holds barred, no second chances, no mercy calls." 

**_Who would win…The Man in Blue or the Rogue in Red??_**

Such thoughts did little to help him focus on his mission, Zero chastised himself as another Drop Block landed a lucky shot.

"BACK OFF!!" He screamed, blowing it into shreds. Strangely enough, the Drop Block's weapons beacon remained intact.

Zero froze as an Installer Unit rounded the corner and began to lift its arm cannon. Zero recognized the design from his data uplink about Maverick controlled units…

The Installer was a heavily armored 'Mech. Its laser didn't do much damage to experienced warriors, but the stomp attack it utilized was devastating.

Zero's eyes flitted down to the weapons beacon at his feet in the remains of the Drop Block. A slight twinge of an idea began to dance about in his head, and he curled his mouth into a smile.

Quickly, he pulled up the device and jammed it into his Buster. Quickly, he sent in a charge into the device, a massive surge.

**Danger. There is a possibility of overload.**

"Nooo, REALLY?!" The Crimson Hunter muttered under his breath. The Installer Unit leapt up into the air, preparing to come crashing down on the wounded Hunter. 

"Nice try." Zero grumbled, tossing the flashing weapons beacon up towards the Installer and dashing free of its path.

The beacon wedged itself firmly into the Installer's chest armor, and when the defensive drone landed back to earth with Zero a fair distance away, it exploded.

The explosion was focused, ripping a gaping hole through the Installer's entire chest, but doing little else. 

Satisfied, Zero plodded on.

**Critical damage received. Recommend shutting down secondary systems.**

"Like walking and shooting? Screw THAT." Zero snapped at his systems.

A little later on, a Barrier Attacker left him a rather large amount of internal operations energy. Zero drained it, satisfied to see his systems were shutting up for a change about his damage.

And finally, Zero came across the very center of the large Central Computer Complex. The thirty foot high data core stared down at him, diagnostic lights flashing menacingly.

Not surprisingly, Zero found it infected to no end by the Maverick's efforts. Corrupted, defiled, it was set to detonate the entire BASE if anyone besides a Maverick tried to gain access.

"Well, isn't that just terrific." Zero sighed, lifting his right arm behind his back and firing a shot.

The approaching Barrier Attacker disintegrated instantly, and Zero returned his full focus to the device. He stared at it for the longest time, almost not believing the extent that the Mavericks were this ruthless and anal about security.

But he knew better, and in the end, he resigned himself to charging up more energy into his weapons systems.

"So lemme see here…try to gain access and save the system from Maverick control, and risk blowing me and X and the entire base to kingdom come…" He flipped his Busters up and stared menacingly at the core, "…Or how about I do what I do best, blow a bunch of shit up, and just not let those damned airheads at the GDC frack it up later and kill themselves?"

The core blinked its diagnostic lights at Zero in response. 

The Crimson Hunter put on his best rakish grin and clucked his tongue.

"And I'll choose Door Number TWO." He fired both blasts, then reached up and launched a saber wave at the core as well.

The shots were placed so that the core would be struck equidistantly. They burned clean through the core, which was never designed for heavy abuse. However, a few diagnostic lights still blinked green at Zero.

"Aaw, shaddap!" He growled at the remaining shreds of the core, firing off an unstoppable volley of plasma bullets that scrapped it to slag.

Satisfied with the result, Zero set his Warp Generator to activate him the Hell out of dodge. But he didn't ask for the MHHQ's location…

He chose a section of sandy beach on Cornus Island.

The least he could do now was wait for his friend to make it back alive.

X dashed as fast as he could away from Sigma's ghost head and its overwhelming heat beam. Luckily for X, Sigma's attack destroyed the pair of Triceratanks he'd somehow created out of nothingness moments before. 

_"YOU ARE MINE, X!!!" _Sigma hissed as the beam came scathingly close to the Hunter before it shut off. The head bobbed down and slammed into X, jarring his frightened and weakened frame into the wall with monstrous force.

"It's not possible…" X wheezed, disbelieving in the first place Sigma had survived the night of June 19th, and disbelieving in the second that his ghost was now following him about. He fired off a Level Three charged blast, his face falling as it bounced off uselessly. Sigma's cackle grew louder.

_"YOU FOOL X!!! NOTHING CAN HARM ME!!!" _X moved out of the way just as the head crashed into the wall where he was.

X turned about in dismay and looked back where Sigma was freeing himself from his last attack.

The perceptive Hunter saw something that didn't add up…

Sigma's head was loosing itself from the dent in the wall it had made…

But the dent wasn't shaped like a head.

"What the…?!" X barked in dismay. Sigma growled.

_"Nice dodge, but it ends here."_ X's mind raced for answers as Sigma took up a position and readied his heat beam again.

The blistering wave came closer and closer to X, who finally climbed up the wall and Air-Dashed over the immediate threat. But his mind thought…

_Why the Hell doesn't that dent look like Sigma's head??_

X had tried almost everything in his secondary weapons inventory, the only untried tricks left in his book being the Strike Chain and G-Crush, which hadn't fully recharged yet. And somehow, Sigma managed to remain unharmed by them all…

But X was going to take a gamble, a gamble he hoped was worth it.

Draining a second Sub-Tank, he brought himself back to full health.

Sigma was still recovering from his last heat beam attack, and was an inviting target, just hanging up in the air.

X let his instincts take over and unleashed another flaming Dragon Punch, embedding his fist into a direct uppercut on Sigma's cleft chin. Sigma screamed in rage as the shot hit home…

And then his wire frame head began to flash crazily, distorting and shifting and flickering…

Flickering long enough for X, at his proximity to watch in awe as the head vanished for a mere millisecond and was replaced by something within…

Stunned, X fell to the floor as his attack was completed. If he had blinked, he could have missed it…

_Ockham's Razor: The simplest solution is usually the right one._

"You're no friggin' ghost!" X snapped angrily. "You're just a weapons device hidden in a holographic illusion!!" Sigma's head was now fully intact, only now having turned a putrid yellow color instead of its green.

_I can't believe I almost fell for that trick…_

He was trying to play on my fears…The Bastard…

"Sigma, you're as cold and calculating as ever." X continued, clenching his fist up. "You pull a trick from Wily's book and modify it against me…"

_"It was a good idea." _Sigma growled back. _"That human Wily made a holographic attack module that fired powerful bursts of plasma, recharged by similar energy attacks, and then tried to scare Mega Man by altering its look to that of an alien lifeform. And admit it, X…You're haunted by me."_

"No longer." X growled, lifting his Buster and unleashing a Level Four shot of plasma. Finally, Sigma's weakened cloak field allowed it to penetrate through, and the weapons carrier inside suffered another hit. "But there's always a weakness, you know that? In Wily's case, it was a dousing of Bubble Lead that short-circuited his final defense measure."

_"Mine has no weaknesses." _Sigma chuckled. X grinned and lifted his Buster again.

"Yeah…it's also got no defenses." Another plasma shot tore through the field and into the heart of the device.

Sigma's head shuddered under the blows.

"You were right about one thing, Sigma." X growled, narrowing his eyes as the head vanished and reappeared just behind him. He dashed out of the way of its slam attack and unleashed another burst of plasma, this one deflected. "This is a gravesite…YOURS."

The G-Crush was useless now, the Dragon Punch…Sigma'd be expecting that.

X's coloration switched over to a light purple along with his white, and Sigma's head warped out again.

"Come on, you…" X muttered.

This time, it reappeared on TOP of X…slamming him down into the floor with a horrific grinding sound and refusing to stop.

Gasping, X struggled to get free…To no avail.

_"YOURS, FOOL." _Sigma rasped. _"I've tasted death at your hands…now it is your turn to feel it at mine."_ His eyes beginning to blur, X pinpointed the source of Sigma's voice, lifted his left arm up…and fired.

An elongated coil chain with a hook head sprang out and flung itself into the core of Sigma's wire frame head, latching onto the very heart of the weapons carrier.

The Strike Chain unleashed its overloading wrath into the heart of the beast…Sigma screamed and tried to escape, but X clambered up to his feet, keeping his weapon buried in Sigma's skull and pouring more juice into his weapon, draining it slowly, but knowing critical damage was being done.

Sigma's head continued to change colors…until it finally was a dark, dark blood red…

And then everything just froze…

X's Strike Chain was blown out from the inside of Sigma's head by a forceful explosion…

The weapons carrier inside had gone haywire.

_"NOOO!!!" _Sigma screamed, trying to regain control of his fritzed final weapon. All to no avail…scrapped beyond an ability to even shut it down, the weapons carrier began spinning and careening about the room in a wild course…

It finally slammed into the computer core with a horrendous explosion, tearing a gasping hole into the nexus and causing the entire room to begin to shake and collapse.

As if in one final moment of defiance Sigma restored the Wire Frame head above X, shaking itself back and forth in a obstinate no.

But X knew it was too late for the Maverick.

_"Mega Man X, I have lost to you again…Each defeat only makes me stronger and servers to bring you to your ultimate doom!!"_

"Shallow words for a dead man." X growled back callously. "I hope you enjoy being buried alive…if you even are alive, you sick freak."

_"Kiss my ass, human lover." _Sigma retorted. _"But, something is not right…I don't quite understand…why did Zero…" _X blinked, realizing Sigma's voice patterns were beginning to break up as the explosions grew worse and worse.

_"He is…the last of the Doctor's creations…" _And then the room shuddered with a tremor far worse than any before.

_"AAAAAARRRRRGGGHH!!!!" _

Tempering his anger down, and realizing that at long last it was all over, Mega Man X readied his Warp Generator. But he turned back to the devastated and self-destructing computer core in the room where Sigma's Wire Frame Head had appeared in its final moments.

"Sigma…" X breathed calmly. "Go to Hell."

And then he was little more than a beam of light, leaving the deep room of Cornus Island's interior and Sigma and the final battle all behind him…

And at long last, free into the night sky of the Pacific…

Free…

And all those who had died at the Maverick's hands had been avenged.


	17. Epilogue

**__**

MEGA MAN X: ISLAND OF AWAKENING

By Erico

EPILOGUE

X had found Zero at a sandy beach at the edge of Cornus, resting and recharging his stamina after a grueling battle. Hearing that X had succeeded over Sigma and that the last of the Mavericks under his reign were destroyed set them both in good spirits.

Yet they merely lay there, resting and recuperating from their wounds, their talks sparse until the few minutes before sunrise.

_Cancer…_

Jim Dacker…

Gearloose…

Bill…

Now you can all rest in peace.

"Earth to X?! HELLO?!" Zero bellowed. X blinked, snapping back.

"Huh?" Zero frowned.

"Just where were you?" X smiled weakly.

"Just saying goodbye to old friends."

"Cain and Hazil are gonna be beaming like suns when I drag you back." X grumbled. "They really missed their golden boy."

"I thought you were their golden boy." Zero retorted with a wry smile. X waved his hand.

"Natch that…I'm talking about as a Hunter." Zero frowned.

"Meaning what?"

"I don't have the ruthless attitude like you do." X replied meekly. "I don't like killing, and I only do it when there's just cause."

"Like protecting innocents?"

"Yeah, and…"

"X, I'm gonna do you a favor." Zero snapped. "I'm gonna tell you to SHUT UP and LISTEN." Zero leaned back, setting his hands with their ruined gauntlets on the sand. "You don't need to be ruthless to be a good Hunter. Look at you. Twice now, there's come a threat far bigger than anything I could handle on my own, and yet through a combination of rage, of incentive, and a genuine desire to make sure that the danger never returns, you've stepped up to the plate and hit grand slams." Zero's eyes shone with respect. "X, you and I can argue on about who's the best Maverick Hunter. The simple answer is you and I fight differently, we think differently. I can learn from you, and you learned from me." Zero pulled out his yellow beam saber and lightly flipped it in the air a few times. "And Hell, I'd say we came out on top of this deal…I finally got a beam saber…although yellow's not my favorite color." 

X couldn't help but grin.

"Well, how about a green one?" Zero's eyes brightened.

"Like Sigma's old one?"

"It IS Sigma's old one." X replied with a grin. "Hell, I've been waiting more than six months to give it to you…It saved my ass in the First Uprising, I'll have you know." Zero laughed.

"You really ARE the golden boy!! I'm gonna have to dredge up something special to give you back." X shook his head.

"Zero, just having you around is present enough." X got up to his feet, as did Zero. "The Maverick Hunters are still in a state of recovery from our almost complete annihilation. They need a strong leader…more than one. They've got me, they've got Cain. And now they've got you as well."

Zero paused and turned to face the East. He grinned wider.

"It's a new year." X looked up as well.

Sure enough, the sun was rising over the horizon, in an orange and pink state of coloration. Zero laughed.

"X, do you know what today is?" Mega Man X nodded, all too aware of the irony of it.

"Yeah…January 1st, 2119." He turned to face Zero. "A year with no Sigma, no Maverick regime, and the return of a lost friend." Zero clucked his tongue and stared out at the sun again.

"A world of peace…can it truly be??"

"It might." X muttered. "My father dreamed of a world at peace, where my kind and humans lived without strife." Zero nodded.

"Then I'll help you make that dream a reality, X." Zero put a hand on his shoulder reassuringly and smiled. "The world will be a better place by our efforts."

"You promise?" X asked, looking up into Zero's eyes. The taller Crimson Hunter grinned and nodded.

"On my grave, I promise." X couldn't help but realize the irony of the statement, like Zero had planned it.

The two friends burst out laughing, and were soon rolling on the sand in a howling fit of laughter.

And the world laughed as well.

Now they could all laugh…

In peace.

The place was Cornus Island. 

The effects were worldwide…

A mere prototype, a man in blue came to aid the world in its time of need once more.

Reaching out beyond himself, he grew stronger…he reached more of his full potential, and ended the final vestiges of Sigma's regime.

That figure was Mega Man X.

In an age where so many still cowered in fear, and where reconstruction was still a part of life, it almost took a turn for the worse…had not a child of Light stepped up to end the threat.

For every age since Wily, for every threat, there has been a Mega Man.

But all heroes have a beginning…and not all heroes are heroes when they begin.

Mega Man X was no exception to the rule. And he found himself…

He found his true power on that island.

On the Island of Awakening.

-END


End file.
